Alexander Radwan (CSU) gave up his summer tour for two years due to the corona.
This year he was on the road again.
His conclusion: Not everyone has yet recognized the seriousness of the situation.
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– Two years without a summer tour: “Something was missing,” says CSU member of the Bundestag Alexander Radwan.
Facts can also be conveyed in e-mails and documents, but moods are usually lost in the process.
This year Radwan was out and about again in his constituency, which is made up of the districts of Miesbach and Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.
In hundreds of conversations during his around 50 visits to companies, schools or farmers, the MP tried to find out how local people are dealing with the latest crises such as the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war with the energy crisis, what they are demanding from Berlin's politicians and how the region is positioned for the resulting changes.
Epoch change instead of time change
Radwan has no doubt that a lot is changing right now.
However, he is not a fan of the term used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to turn the tide.
"In many areas we are talking more about Germany arriving in reality, in some areas about a real turning point," Radwan clarifies.
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The times when the USA took care of Europe's security and paid for it are over, as are cheap imports of primary products from China, raw materials from Africa and energy from Russia.
The global balance of power and thus also trade relations are currently being reorganized.
Standards such as democracy and climate protection do not always play a role.
It is therefore questionable whether the "value-oriented foreign policy" of the federal government will not isolate Germany from the world markets at some point.
Radwan warns that Germany is no longer automatically the preferred partner in the world because of the increased competition.
More openness to technology and innovation
For him it is clear: the country must ensure that it remains at the forefront in terms of technology.
This requires an innovation-friendly climate in which start-ups also have a future.
Furthermore, large-scale projects, the realization of which sometimes takes decades in this country (Radwan cites the S-Bahn extension to Geretsried or the Hausham level crossing as local examples), must be drastically accelerated with a reduction in bureaucracy.
It is also important here to “put individual interests back into a healthy relationship with the common good”.
Radwan uses a quote from the former CSU Federal President Roman Herzog: "There must be a jolt through Germany."
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Not only in the politics of the traffic light government, but also in his encounters in the constituency, Radwan got the impression "that there are an incredible number of hard-working people, but not all of them have heard the shot".
Specifically, he is currently observing two opposing trends in the region: the shortage of skilled workers is now becoming a general labor force, and at the same time, since Corona, more and more and especially younger professionals have felt the need to pay more attention to their "work-life balance". and to reduce their working hours.
"That," Radwan is convinced, "can't work like that." On the contrary: the competition is getting tougher, maintaining the accustomed prosperity is a "joint effort".
Radwan: "Cut old braids"
According to Radwan, in order for this to succeed, it is also necessary to “cut off old habits”.
Only if you let something go wrong can something new come into being.
Digitization does not mean fitting old models into the new structures, but rather developing completely different methods.
Radwan assures us that the potential for this is there, but his visits to the summer tour have already shown him.
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