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Europe’s automotive industry faces a perfect storm of slowing demand, ferocious Chinese competition and the transition to electric cars. Read our deep dive into the car industry’s woes here.
Double booked
German business leaders wanting to discuss their plight with the government are getting two meetings for the price of one today. But while they may rejoice at the attention, the separate events herald bad news for the coalition government’s unity, writes Guy Chazan.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will host an “industry summit” in the chancellery this afternoon, just after a similar event by finance minister Christian Lindner in parliament.
Context: The duelling summits symbolise the increasingly muddled nature of Germany’s economic policy, as evidence grows that Scholz’s fragile coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals could be edging towards collapse.
“To be honest, we’re just rolling our eyes at this point,” said one business lobbyist.
The summits were scheduled in response to Germany’s increasingly bleak economic situation, with the country facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s.
Carmaker Volkswagen plans to close at least three German plants and axe tens of thousands of jobs. The mood in business has rarely been so downbeat.
Scholz’s summit with businesses and unions is supposed to hammer out a plan for getting Germany out of its current mess. But the Social Democrat chancellor pointedly failed to invite his own economy and finance ministers — Robert Habeck of the Greens, and Lindner of the pro-business FDP.
Habeck responded with his own proposals for boosting investment, without previously agreeing them with cabinet colleagues, while Lindner announced he would host a separate get-together on the same day as Scholz’s shindig.
He invited the heads of leading trade bodies who had been snubbed by Scholz, such as the employers’ federation BDA, the chambers of commerce and the family business association.
The rival initiatives have only enhanced the aura of chaos surrounding Scholz’s government, and stoked speculation that the coalition might fall apart in the coming weeks, triggering snap elections.
“Ministers should be sitting down and hammering out a joint programme of structural reforms,” the lobbyist said. “Instead it’s just every man for himself.”
What to watch today
Finnish President Alexander Stubb meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joins Nordic leaders at Nordic Council meeting in Reykjavik.
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Publish date : 2024-10-28 23:00:00
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