Traffic light government: Two summits for the economy: More than just theatrical thunder?

Is it all just theatrical thunder, or can the industrial summit led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) actually help the German economy out of the doldrums? The most important industrial associations, unions and selected companies will meet in the Chancellery on Tuesday for at least two hours to explore this. The meeting is taking place under difficult circumstances because the traffic light government appears to be quite divided on economic policy.

Scholz did not invite his Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and his Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). Habeck has therefore presented a paper with his suggestions for crisis management as input, so to speak. And Lindner’s FDP parliamentary group is inviting people to its own business meeting a few hours before the Chancellor’s summit, at which trade and medium-sized businesses will also be taken into account.

Miersch: End “intrigues”.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr defended the approach. The FDP thought that inviting only large industry was “a bit too narrow”, he said on ZDF. We also have to give concrete help to medium-sized businesses. “We want to get back into the Champions League of the major economic nations.”

Green party leader Katharina Dröge, however, warned that everyone should pull together in view of the tense situation. “We don’t need competitive discussion groups between finance ministers and chancellors, but rather common solutions in the federal government,” she told the German Press Agency. SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch made a similar statement: “Silly intrigues must stop. I expect my coalition partners to now work in a concentrated and solution-oriented manner,” he told the Bavarian media group newspapers.

Scholz wants a “new industrial policy agenda”

Scholz announced the summit almost two weeks ago in a government statement in the Bundestag. It is intended to be the start of several discussions with business representatives. The Chancellor’s goal: “A new industrial policy agenda”. “I will suggest to this parliament that whatever comes out of this should be put into motion so that things can move forward in Germany,” he promised.

At the summit, Scholz wants to concentrate on the sectors in which a particularly large number of jobs are at stake. In addition to the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI), the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA) should also be there. The employees are represented by the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), IG Metall and IG Mining, Chemistry and Energy. In addition to VW, BMW and Mercedes are also expected to be among the major companies. A total of around 20 participants are expected.

It should be a confidential conversation

According to the Chancellor’s ideas, the content should remain confidential. There will be no subsequent press conference. The photographers and camera teams who were initially invited for opening pictures were disinvited again today. The signal: This is not a show event.

“We have to get away from the theater stages,” Scholz said at the weekend. “We have to get away from presenting and suggesting something that is then not accepted and accepted by everyone. It has to be about a lot of cooperation.”

Business wants greater reduction in energy costs

Before the summit, the economy is pushing for a greater reduction in energy costs than previously planned. “Lower prices for a few large companies and bureaucratic support programs alone are not a sufficient concept,” said the President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Peter Adrian, to the “Rheinische Post”.

The BDI demands that the federal government pull together in economic policy. Instead of “different theses papers and discussion formats,” what is needed is a “common economic policy strategy” that strengthens growth forces, the association says. To do this, the government framework would have to be improved and companies would have to be freed from the shackles that are currently slowing down investments.

The VW crisis makes the summit particularly explosive

The summit is particularly explosive due to the escalation of the crisis at Germany’s largest car company, VW. According to the works council, three out of ten plants in Germany are to be closed, tens of thousands of jobs are to be cut and salaries are to be drastically reduced. Scholz demanded through a government spokesman “that possible wrong management decisions from the past should not be to the detriment of the employees.”

CSU demands: “Stop this Punch and Judy show”

The Union has no hopes for the industrial summit. “If the federal government can’t even manage to coordinate appointments or contest them together, I have no idea how they want to continue like this,” said CSU General Secretary Martin Huber and demanded: “Stop this Punch and Judy show – our economy doesn’t deserve that!”