Investor Summit: Lots of Show, Little Substance

Is it right that the Federal Government, like France’s President Emmanuel Macron, is holding an investor summit? In any case. Did the Chancellor and his Cabinet colleagues apply a little too much on Tuesday in Berlin? Unfortunately, yes. This starts with the rather hands-free billion amounts to which the investment commitments in Germany are to add up. The Chancellery speaks of 800 billion euros, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of almost 230 billion euros. The Bundesbank figures, on the other hand, are in the double-digit billion range, with a decreasing trend. Amazon is optimistic, Roche is not At the investor summit, a lot of familiar things were repackaged, news with news value remained the exception. The happy customer of Amazon, to invest 16 billion euros in Germany, faces the accounting of the Roche CEO with the location, which the pharmaceutical manager probably placed shortly before the event in Berlin. With the most honest message appeared on Tuesday Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD). “I want your money,” he told the audience. But on the basic problems of the location Germany, an investor summit changes little. The tax burden is unchanged high, the energy costs are also despite state subsidies. Bureaucracy continues to grow. Investment projects almost only come about if the federal and state governments compensate for these disadvantages with generous subsidies, as the example of the Sanofi insulin plant in Frankfurt shows again. The reforms on pensions and the labour market, which Merz praises as a sign of change, are not yet united in the coalition. The reduction in the electricity tax proves to be hardly affordable. And the warm welcome of the Minister of Construction to housing investors is counteracted by the expropriation plans of the potential coalition in Berlin. The first investor summit leaves the impression: someone wants more than he can. More substance, less show would be a good resolution for next time.