Economy Employer President Dulger
“Part of the federal government has switched to autopilot”
Status: 11:44 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Compares the German economy with a scene from “Gulliver’s Travels”
Source: dpa/Sven Hoppe
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Employer President Rainer Dulger says he has a lot of confidence in the traffic light coalition. Nevertheless, he calls for an “update” for the coalition agreement. Germany must become more competitive and digital – individual measures would not be enough.
Employer President Rainer Dulger has criticized the course of the traffic light coalition and called for a change of course. Dulger told the German Press Agency: “Part of the federal government has switched to autopilot and is stubbornly working through the coalition agreement – as if times hadn’t changed. The coalition agreement urgently needs an update. We have to reposition Germany, we have to become more competitive, simpler, faster, more digital and also hungrier again.”
Economic prospects for the German economy have clouded over. The gross domestic product stagnated in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office.
Dulger, as President of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, said: “But I also say: I still have a lot of confidence in the traffic light. Let’s wait and see what else will be put on the table after the summer break. There is a realization in some parts of the coalition that the location has suffered, that we need to invest in the location. The task now is to put the strategic competitiveness of Germany as a business location back at the center of political thought and action.” Individual measures would not be enough.
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“I had a lovely fairy tale book as a kid where Gulliver was tied to the floor with lots of thin threads,” Dulger says. “This is how you can imagine the economy of this country: a strong giant shackled with many bureaucratic obstacles. On their own, each thread doesn’t have much of an effect – collectively, they’re crippling. Only when we have loosened 40, 50 or more of these threads can Gulliver get up again and unleash his full power.”
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Dulger said that the traffic lights reacted comparatively quickly to the gas shortage in 2022. “The concerted action, the close dialogue with business and the trade unions, the construction of the liquid gas terminals – that was solution-oriented. I wish for this spirit back.” From the new “Deutschlandtempo”, as Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called it, there will not be much to see in 2023. “Now it’s often only about particular interests. Or more simply: there is too much arguing.”