Olaf Scholz like Schröder once did: Chancellor wants to save the Meyer shipyard

analysis

The parallel is unmistakable. Gerhard Schröder’s poll ratings once plummeted. Shortly before an SPD party conference that could have brought disaster to the Chancellor, Schröder saved the faltering Holzmann construction company in 1999, thousands of jobs – and his own. “Holzmann restructures Schröder,” was the headline in the “taz” newspaper.

Almost 25 years later, Olaf Scholz is in an even more dire situation according to the polls. If the SPD is thrown out of a state parliament for the first time in the upcoming state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, the Chancellor will face an intense debate about his future, the SPD and what the two have to do with each other. Scholz is now travelling to Papenburg this Thursday to hold out the prospect of saving the ailing Meyer shipyard.

Is Olaf doing the Gerd now?

In November 1999, Schröder negotiated a deal with the creditors of the ailing construction company, including the most important German banks. An aid package worth millions was agreed. The federal government granted a loan of 150 million and a guarantee of 100 million marks. This meant that Schröder could be celebrated as the savior of 17,000 jobs in Germany.

Cheers, tears of joy and shouts of “Gerhard, Gerhard”

On the evening of November 24, Schröder announced the result with the words: “Dear friends, we did it!” In Frankfurt’s banking district, a heart of German capitalism, Schröder was celebrated with cries of “Gerhard, Gerhard”. Tears of joy from the Holzmann workers later watered the television reports.

At Scholz, more than 3,000 jobs are at stake. And unlike the Holzmann construction company, which went bankrupt a few years later, Meyer-Werft has realistic prospects for a good economic future. The order books for the next few years are full, what is missing is some kind of interim financing.

According to Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony will not only guarantee around 900 million euros each, but will also take over 80 to 90 percent of the majority shares in the shipyard. This would make Meyer Werft a state-owned company for a period of time until 2027. The Meyer family will then be able to buy back their shares later.

Scholz’s temperament alone will not allow him to present himself as a workers’ leader, as Schröder once did. On that cold November evening, the Chancellor called out to the Holzmann workforce that Christmas was almost here. He wanted to ensure that the workers “had something under the Christmas tree”. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” wrote at the time of a “brilliantly crude folk theater”.

Olaf Scholz wants to stand for a hands-on industrial policy

Scholz is likely to have both a short-term and a long-term motive for flying to Emsland in person and attending the press conference with Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (also SPD). On the one hand, the Chancellor knows that he can only counteract the ongoing disputes in the Berlin coalition and the associated reporting with concrete actions. In recent days he has repeatedly pointed out that the gun smoke on the battlefield (Chancellor’s own words) is reducing the view of the concrete results of the government’s work.

On the other hand, the rescue of the Meyer shipyard fits into the image that Scholz wants to paint of his economic policy in general: a hands-on chancellor who not only talks, but acts, especially in industrial policy. Just a few days ago, Scholz traveled to Dresden for the groundbreaking ceremony for a new plant for the semiconductor manufacturer TSMC. The Taiwanese company is receiving five billion euros in subsidies from the federal government. Scholz justified this with the need to ensure a secure supply of semiconductors to German companies and to promote well-paid and secure jobs. Only a return to classic social democratic issues can stop the chancellor’s loss of confidence: industry, jobs, future prospects.

After the rescue of the Holzmann Group, there were also skeptical voices at the time. Even Schröder’s own economics minister, Werner Müller, warned against setting a precedent. The state “cannot generally be the repair shop for ailing companies”. In fact, despite the subsequent bankruptcy of Holzmann, various federal governments have repeatedly succumbed to the temptation. Lufthansa and Commerzbank are considered successful examples. Opel and above all Karstadt, on the other hand, are considered failures.

What will Robert Habeck have to say today about the rescue of the Meyer shipyard? It is also not yet known where Finance Minister Christian Lindner will get the money for the rescue. It remains to be seen whether Scholz’ Coalition partners must not once again ruin the Chancellor’s appearance as a labor leader.