As of: March 6, 2024, 5:06 p.m
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German industry is calling for increased protection of the infrastructure in light of an arson attack on the power supply at the Tesla factory in Brandenburg.
The trust of investors is at stake.
Berlin - After the attack on the power supply at the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin, German industry is calling for better protection of the infrastructure.
“Infrastructures are the lifelines of the German economy,” Martin Wansleben, managing director of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, the protection of these infrastructures now needs to be urgently adapted to the changed security situation.
It is essential that investors can continue to see Germany as a safe country.” The competition for investments depends crucially on the quality of good location factors.
Security against criminal or terrorist-motivated attacks on the infrastructure has so far been part of this.
Wansleben added that the infrastructure is particularly at risk from cyber attacks from abroad.
“We need really effective cooperation between the state and business, but also legal clarity on the relevant issues.” Politicians must coordinate the planned law to protect strategically important infrastructure with cybersecurity measures and adopt it promptly.
Victim of an arson attack: An electricity pylon near the Grünheid “Gigafactory” was paralyzed by left-wing extremist activists on Monday.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
“Red line crossed” Chamber of Commerce in East Brandenburg takes a stand
The local chamber of commerce in East Brandenburg announced that a red line had been crossed.
“Security and reliability are central conditions that investors around the world value in Germany.
That's why this arson attack is not just an attack on Tesla, not just on the regional economy, employees and residents.
It is an attack on all companies that want to invest in Brandenburg and Germany,” said Carsten Christ, President of the IHK Ostbrandenburg.
“I see the state as having an urgent duty to protect our economy from this.”
The President of the Munich economic research institute Ifo, Clemens Fuest, said in Berlin that cases like the one at Tesla are the exception.
If they accumulate, this must be assessed differently.
“Infrastructure must be reliable, and it has always been reliable in Germany.” There are already vulnerabilities in the infrastructure, but this has not yet been an overall economic problem.
“I don’t think this is an issue that has bothered investors so far.”
A fire on a high-voltage pylon near the Tesla factory in Brandenburg interrupted the power supply on Tuesday.
The factory was shut down for several days; plant manager Andre Thierig estimated the damage at a high nine-figure amount.
The company cannot produce more than 1,000 vehicles per day.
The “Turn off Tesla volcano group!”, classified as left-wing extremist by the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, claimed responsibility for the attack.
(Reuters, lf)