Weaponsmith
Ex-SPD leader Gabriel nominated for Rheinmetall’s supervisory board
Parts of his party are critical of the production of weapons. Now the former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel wants to be on the supervisory board of Germany’s largest weapons manufacturer.
The former SPD federal chairman Sigmar Gabriel (65) is to become a member of the supervisory board of Germany’s largest arms company Rheinmetall. The company announced in Düsseldorf that the supervisory board had decided to nominate the former Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The general meeting is expected to approve this appointment in May; approval is considered likely. With Gabriel, the former technical director of Deutsche Bahn, Sabina Jeschke, is to move onto the Rheinmetall supervisory board.
Gabriel emphasizes the importance of the “champion” Rheinmetall
“My membership on Rheinmetall’s supervisory board should be seen as a contribution to proactively dealing with the need for a strong and efficient defense industry in Germany and Europe,” explained Gabriel. “Our children and grandchildren will only be able to grow up in a peaceful Europe if the return of war as a political tool is not successful.”
Military strength is not the only prerequisite for this, but it is an essential one. “The Bundeswehr must be made capable of defending itself and therefore being used in war again, and the European pillar of NATO must be made capable of deterrence again.” This requires, among other things, “a strong national and European champion like Rheinmetall.”
Gabriel already has other supervisory board mandates
The 65-year-old Gabriel has had a long political career; he was Prime Minister of Lower Saxony from 1999 to 2003. Rheinmetall has its largest production site there, Unterlüß. He resigned from the Bundestag at the end of 2019. He already has experience working on supervisory boards; he has sat on the supervisory boards of Deutsche Bank and Siemens Energy since 2020. Gabriel sat in the executive chair on the supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp’s steel subsidiary, where he resigned in the summer after an internal dispute.
Rheinmetall is by far the largest German arms manufacturer; the group’s headquarters with around 30,000 employees is in Düsseldorf. The growth trend is heading steeply upwards, the order books are jam-packed. Since the start of the Ukraine war, Rheinmetall’s share price has increased almost sixfold. The company produces tanks, military trucks, anti-aircraft guns, artillery, drones and ammunition.
dpa
Source: Stern
