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Berlin (German news agency) – The economic policy spokesman for the SPD, Bernd Westphal, considers a possible cancellation of the provisionally promised funding for the chip manufacturer Nexperia to be a mistake. “The behavior of the Federal Ministry of Economics is incomprehensible,” Westphal told the “Handelsblatt” (Friday edition).
According to government circles, the Ministry of Economic Affairs does not allow the multi-million dollar subsidy because Nexperia is owned by a Chinese owner. “It cannot be that a federal ministry simply says for every connection to China that we will stop all machines,” criticized Westphal. The decision to supply chips will only make Germany more dependent on foreign countries. Reinhard Houben, economic policy spokesman for the FDP, also criticized the decision.
The federal government must finally present its security and China strategy. “Otherwise, like now with Nexperia, we only have individual decisions that do not follow an overall concept.” That “certainly does not” strengthen Germany as a business location. The ministry led by Robert Habeck (Greens), on the other hand, receives support from the opposition.
“I think the decision is right,” said the economic policy spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU, Julia Klöckner, in the “Handelsblatt” (Friday edition). “We all know how the Chinese state deals with data, copyright and competition. We shouldn’t be promoting this with German taxpayers’ money,” said Klöckner. The possible refusal to support Nexperia is based on the Economic Ministry’s assessment that the company’s chips could also be used for military projects, government circles report. It was also said that large parts of the specialist level in the ministry did not agree with the decision of the house management to cancel the funding.