The energy crisis puts German companies on the brink of existence. Even medium-sized companies no longer rule out moving production abroad, warned the president of the Federation of German Industry (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, at the European Economic Conference, organized by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT). ).

According to FAZ editor Gerald Braunberger, the two-day conference in Berlin was devoted to finding solutions to the world’s many crises. Braunberger warned that Europe is now facing a significant loss of prosperity. “Inflation and recession form a toxic alliance,” he said.

In addition to the economic crisis, there will also be political conflicts that may arise in Europe as a result of the clear success of the center-right camp in the Italian elections.

Fiscal neutrality

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) believes that reducing inflation is the most important task of the federal government. “Inflation is the greatest threat to the economic foundations of society,” Lindner told a conference in late September.

Inflation impoverishes people and robs companies of their economic base. Therefore, the state must ensure that supply is no longer restricted and that firms are not closed. Lindner believes that the state should impose its “fiscal neutrality”: “We should not give an impetus to consumption now,” he said.

Moving to other countries

Siegfried Russwurm warned that “industry will not be able to stand for long”, the pressure that German companies are currently feeling, given the sharp rise in energy costs, Pragmatism is a characteristic of entrepreneurs, so many are now thinking about moving production to other countries.

He himself hears this from medium-sized companies, which he previously perceived as “true patriots”. Particularly attractive places would be Canada and the USA. The cost of energy there is much lower and the conditions are more favorable than in Germany.

In addition to the high costs, Germany’s lengthy administrative processes are also a problem: “In Germany, we allow ourselves a level of complexity that is simply not suitable for crises,” Russwurm criticized, and then advocated using whatever energy source is currently available.

This applies not only to the three remaining nuclear plants. “Let the wind turbines work,” Russwurm demanded. Until now, some systems were turned off at night so that certain species of birds would not be disturbed. For this statement, he did not receive the applause of Environment Minister Steffi Lemke.

A new pole of power

For Anton Hofreiter, a green politician and chairman of the Bundestag Committee on European Union Affairs, one of the biggest challenges lies in the new system of competition between democratic states and autocracies. This may even lead to the formation of a new pole of power.

“The most brutal and most terrible manifestation of this is Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but it is by no means the only one,” Hofreiter said. Also recalling China’s repeated threats to Taiwan.

To paint a picture of global cooperation, Hofreiter resorted to a critical description of the German business model: “We were buying raw materials under a dictatorship,” he said. “And we processed them with big machinery into products that were sold in another dictatorship, namely China.” This is not a sustainable business model, he concluded.

He also called on Germany to assume a leadership role in Europe. This does not mean a “Germany first” policy. Instead, Germany should act as a “custodian and organizer” of common European interests.

This is important when it comes to the joint purchase of natural gas on the world market, the support of Ukraine – and with additional supplies of weapons – or the management of the process of European expansion, in which Germany has a geostrategic interest.