As of: February 23, 2024, 10:17 p.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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More and more companies are relocating their locations abroad.
Thousands of people in the Federal Republic are losing their jobs.
What can save Germany as a business location?
Berlin - There is a risk of a clear-cut at the railway subsidiary DB Cargo, the automotive supplier ZF is cutting jobs, Miele is moving parts of its production to Poland, Continental is also cutting jobs.
Hardly a day goes by without new reports of “austerity programs” or companies leaving the country.
Associations across sectors are sounding the alarm, and in many places politicians are being called upon to present a concept to “save” the business location.
But the responsible ministries cannot agree.
What steps should the federal government take?
There are different voices from business and politics.
Union wants to strengthen business location – Habeck “cannot take it seriously”
Julia Klöckner, economic policy spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, referred to “numerous proposals” from the Union.
“Habeck’s transformative supply policy has reached a dead end,”
Wirtschaftswoche
quoted the politician as saying.
From reducing bureaucracy to competitive corporate taxes and social security contributions to reducing energy taxes, the Union has introduced many approaches to strengthening Germany as a business location.
“The federal government must finally act.”
Robert Habeck in Berlin.
Thousands of people in the Federal Republic are losing their jobs.
What can save Germany as a business location?
© IMAGO / Chris Emil Janßen
This did not go down well with Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
When the annual economic report was published, Habeck said he could not understand how the Union was “trumpeting” proposals for more economic growth, but at the same time “blocking” measures in parliament that would do exactly that.
“I can’t take the opposition seriously,” said the minister.
Trade association demands implementation of Growth Opportunities Act
The German Trade Association (HDE) said that the federal government urgently needs to pass the Growth Opportunities Act.
The association is calling for “more determination” and “quick adoption” in the Federal Council as well.
“Of course, a major tax reform like the one the Union is calling for, which would lead to noticeably more competitiveness for all German companies, would be nice.
“That no longer seems realistic in the time remaining before the next federal elections,” said Stefan Genth, managing director of the HDE, in an association report.
Therefore, “at least” the existing Growth Opportunities Act should pass through the Federal Council.
“Companies need relief,” explained Genth.
The association highlighted measures such as the investment bonus to promote climate-friendly investments and the improvement of loss offsetting as particularly important for the economy.
Government must fight “unleashed bureaucracy”.
The Association of the Electrical and Digital Industry (ZVEI) also warned of losses and a difficult order situation across the entire industry.
In 2024, the electrical and digital industry is facing a two percent decline in production, and a “slight dip in growth” is expected.
ZVEI also took politicians to task.
“If the EU wants to continue to play an independent role between the USA and China, it must align the internal market more consistently with growth and abandon non-industry regulations such as the EU Supply Chain Act,” said Dr.
Gunther Kegel, President of the association, commented.
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In addition, the traffic light coalition must stop the “regulatory tsunami” and the “unleashed bureaucracy”.
This enormously weakens the competitiveness of German companies.
Kegel explained: “We now need a European Union that focuses on industrial value creation.”
Taxes should fall to “international levels”.
Finally, many players across sectors are demanding a significant reduction in the tax burden.
“The wholesale companies want nothing more than to be able to do their job,” said Dirk Jandura, President of the Federal Association of Wholesale and Foreign Trade.
“We need clear signals and not more redistribution via the tax system.
That’s why 49 percent of wholesale companies are in favor of a fundamental tax reform that would reduce the burden to the international level of 25 percent.”
It currently looks as if Germany is “coming out of the crisis more slowly than hoped”.
Minister Habeck announced this on Wednesday when presenting the annual economic report.
The government expects mini-growth of 0.2 percent for the year - in the autumn forecast it was 1.3 percent.
The “historically low growth” in world trade is mainly responsible for this.
This hurts, especially for an export nation like Germany.
At the beginning of February, Christian Lindner (FDP) and Robert Habeck stated that Germany was no longer competitive.
An agreement on the Growth Opportunities Act is currently pending.