As of: February 29, 2024, 5:55 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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During a panel discussion at the International Crafts Fair, Söder and Habeck discussed reducing bureaucracy - and where the federal government should do more.
Munich – Crafts President Jörg Dittrich has called for more action instead of words from the federal government.
The government must reduce bureaucracy, reduce taxes and make Germany competitive again: "We don't need any more speeches, we need action," said Dittrich on Wednesday (February 28th) at the start of the International Crafts Fair in Munich.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said the government must do its homework quickly.
“The economic situation is challenging.”
During a panel discussion with Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), they went even deeper into the topic of reducing bureaucracy.
Jörg Dittrich gave the example of a craft business in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, which had to close after 100 years.
The owner of the road construction company Richard Hoff & Söhne also cited the excessive bureaucracy in the country as partly to blame for the closure.
“That not only makes me sad, but also angry,” said Dittrich on stage.
Reducing bureaucracy as a central theme for Habeck and Söder
Dittrich said the craft now expects action, “not just understanding.”
The mood in the German economy and in the trades is bad.
In many companies, the order books emptied.
Investments would be slowed down.
There is a lack of political reliability.
The federal government must act where it is in its own hands: “The bureaucracy is not the fault of Russia or Putin,” said the President of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH).
In his opening speech, Economics Minister Robert Habeck named the labor shortage as the biggest problem facing the German economy.
This threatens to become a brake on growth, said the Vice Chancellor.
“The main economic task is to get people into work.” But Habeck also admitted: “There are far too many regulations.
We have to manage to make it simpler, leaner and more pragmatic.” However, everyone has to go along with it.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) at the craft fair © Sven Hoppe/dpa
During the panel discussion, the minister went on to say: “We need a system of responsibility instead of a system of absolute legal certainty.”
Nobody should be afraid that if they do something quickly and ignore one or two regulations, they will then lose their job.
“Responsibility also means having tolerance when things aren’t going well.”
Söder vs. Habeck: Viewers rate Söder as a populist
Markus Söder sees the issue of data protection as a main source of excessive bureaucracy.
“Data protection prevents everything for us,” he said.
He also demanded that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) make the issue a top priority: “He should not speak a word of power, but rather a whole dictionary of power!” Requirements would have to be reduced, fewer guidelines on how something should be implemented.
Overall, however, Söder was disappointed in his appearance alongside Habeck - at least according to the comments on social media.
“Söder is consistently not prepared or to say it in his language: He has no idea,” said one user on the X platform. And another: “The Habeck/Söder video makes it clear: the real reason for this abysmal hatred of the conservatives on the Greens is simply because they can’t hold a candle to them.”
“I sat in the audience with my colleagues and it was truly unbelievable how arrogantly Söder expressed his populism.
And it was impressive how confidently and accurately Robert Habeck countered,” another user describes the discussion.
Energy is another concern of the trade
According to Dittrich, another concern that is not only on the minds of the trades is a secure and affordable energy supply.
There was an exchange of blows between Habeck and the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder at a forum at the opening of the trade fair: The CSU chairman criticized the end of German nuclear power plants as unreasonable and referred to the expansion of nuclear power in other European countries.
Habeck said that nuclear power was far too expensive - and reminded Söder that he threatened to resign as environment minister in 2011 if Germany did not phase out nuclear power more quickly.
There are a million craft businesses in Germany with around 5.7 million employees and 350,000 trainees.
They generated around 735 billion euros in sales in 2022.
With material from dpa