According to the report, for months now the impression has prevailed in many company and association headquarters that Scholz underestimates the economic problems of the Federal Republic, as well as the country's decline in important international rankings. Industry president Siegfried Russwurm complained in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday that Scholz often ignores economic concerns.
Chancellor Scholz gives the impression that there is no fundamental problem
In fact, both the Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck (Greens) and the Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner (FDP), described the low growth of this country as “dramatically bad”, even “shameful” and announced countermeasures. The Chancellor, on the contrary, still gives the impression today that there is no fundamental problem. Complaints are more typical of business associations, Scholz stated several times, stating that he knew from his time as mayor of Hamburg that “complaints are the song of merchants.”
He repeated this phrase at the beginning of March in the traditional meeting with representatives of the main German business associations within the framework of the Munich craft fair, to the displeasure of the leaders of the associations present. They had already informed him in a letter at the end of January of their “great concern” for “the political, social and economic development” in Germany and sent him a list of ten points that they would like to discuss at the planned meeting. in March. This included, among other things, competitive electricity prices, reduced bureaucracy, faster approval procedures, combating the shortage of skilled workers and tax reform.
According to deputy government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann, exactly this conversation took place with the heads of the BDI, the Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the Entrepreneurs' Association (BDA) and the Craftsmen's Association (ZDH) in Munich. The Chancellor not only takes economic concerns very seriously, Hoffmann said on Wednesday this week. Rather, at the meeting held on the sidelines of the craft fair, she “exchanged in detail” her letter and the suggestions it contained with the presidents of the associations. “That was the topic of the high-level debate in Munich in March,” Hoffmann said.
The Chancellor is said to have not addressed any of the ten points during the interview.
According to a study by the newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, this was evidently not the case; At one point there was talk of “complete nonsense.” Rather, the Chancellor is said to have not addressed any of the ten points during the interview, but instead praised his government for its supposed successes in reforming the administration. The discrepancy between what the businessmen expected and what Scholz said was so great that the association's leaders left the meeting “confused” and “dazed,” according to SZ. The word “pissed off” was also mentioned. Apparently not much has changed since then, since a written response from the Foreign Ministry to the associations' letter was pending until Thursday.