A lot of explosives at the inflation summit in the Chancellery – Handelsblatt Morning Briefing

You can tell from the onset of the wave of “summer interviews” that another six months are over and the evenings of mild air are coming. ARD and ZDF began their summer etudes yesterday, Sunday, with two heads of state who are concerned about the social well-being of the people because of the gas crisis. In the first, Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the rising energy costs as “social explosives”: Many would not be able to cope if the heating bill suddenly rose by hundreds of euros. But he himself doesn’t just take cold showers.

In the second, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier fawned over the relief measures taken by his party friend’s government in order to somehow demand more: “The packages that have been available so far were good, they were necessary. But the situation will continue to be monitored and tools will have to be considered to make life easier for those on low wages in particular.” Karl Schiller and Franz Josef Strauss, with “Plisch und Plum”.

Coalition leaders without a clear direction: Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (from left), Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

Those declared dead live longer, but do they also have something to contribute? Today in the Chancellery, representatives of employers, employees, academia and the Bundesbank are discussing actions against the “Putin inflation” with the initiator Scholz. Be warned against expectations that are too high – here it is already considered success that people talk to each other, a first-round effect, so to speak. Because the worst thing for most of the group would be rising inflation expectations and the “second-round effect” of a wage price spiral.

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The new DGB boss Yasmin Fahimi enlivened the conversation in “Bild am Sonntag” with the proposal for an energy price cap for the unemployed, pensioners and students. And she suggested suspending the increase in the CO2 price planned for 2023. Apparently, the “turning point” of the new Cold War also includes downgrading climate policy.

The government’s declared goal is to protect companies such as the gas trader Uniper. Uniper is a Finnish-owned company that was once part of the Eon group, which was instrumental in driving Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas. When it comes to Uniper, Scholz reminds of the state’s generous corona aid for Lufthansa, where one also intervened.

Given the chaos at the airports and the incompetence of Lufthansa, this is not a good example. CEO Carsten Spohr himself confessed that the savings may have been overdone – and, as we have learned, he has to face an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board on Wednesday. How can an inspector remain calm when he learns that the frightened customers would rather book a train than board a Lufthansa – or, even worse, Eurowings – plane.

What Daniel Kassa Mbuambi, head of the UFO cabin union, analyzed is becoming more and more true: “Out of sheer effort to downsize, Lufthansa clearly failed to adequately license the remaining colleagues. They are missing now.” They are missing, just like the fifth star that once adorned this airline before its mismanagement.

The current figures on German asset managers, presented by the consulting group McKinsey, seem like they came from a bygone, glorious time. According to this, asset management companies in Germany earned more money than ever before in 2021: an incredible 4.4 billion euros. In 2020, around one billion fewer profits were made.

But it was a year in which Vladimir Putin only sorted his troops and did not let them attack. A year in which no galloping inflation brought a turnaround in interest rates and thus an end to “deal fever” and the beginning of a bear market. Because that is also part of the new reality: in 2022, in view of the falling stock markets, there is a threat of a decline in the business of German asset managers of up to 25 percent. On the one hand, income from performance fees is declining (there are hardly any), on the other hand, the inexpensive, passive investments in the ETF industry are continuing to expand.

Denmark is in shock after a man killed three people with a long gun and seriously injured three others in a Copenhagen shopping center early Sunday evening. Police arrested a 22-year-old Dane near the scene of the crime. There should be no political motive. A sold-out concert by British singer Harry Styles, which was supposed to take place in a nearby multi-purpose hall, has been cancelled. And the Danish royal family canceled a reception planned to coincide with the Tour de France, which this time also travels through the Scandinavian country.

Now the biggest economic mis-speculation in the history of the Catholic Church is official. The Holy See’s asset management company APSA announced that it had sold a property in the Chelsea district of London for 186 million pounds (around 216 million euros) to the American financial house Bain Capital. Originally it was said that the Americans would pay more than 230 million euros for the former workshop warehouse of the Harrods department store chain. Apparently, however, price reductions were due. The State Secretariat of the Vatican spent around 350 million euros on the building between 2014 and 2018 – so the Vatican has to write off 134 million euros.

Because of the scandal, proceedings are underway against Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was fired and responsible for the Chelsea construction. Some other former money managers of the Holy See also have to answer to the courts. Pope Francis is in demand as a soul comforter on the outside and as a restorer on the inside.

The FDP makes proposals to attract more workers.

And then there are the Liberal Democrats of Germany, who think of themselves as the country’s change agents. The party is now suggesting to add English as a second administrative language: one of these great ideas, which are called “Königsweg”, which is why we spontaneously participate in the new bilingualism. Everything “roger” so, after all, you have to order in English in every second coffee bar in Prenzlauer Berg.

The proposal comes from a paper on modern immigration policy that Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Johannes Vogel, Deputy Leader of the FDP, have drawn up. “Language is the key to a successful integration” could be translated as a thesis, which is why language support for foreign professionals should be expanded. English is also supposed to make going to the authorities easier in the offices, but, oh well, does the official mold understand everything correctly? The Party Executive Committee will vote on the ten-point paper this Monday.

It’s kind of revolutionary, because even politicians rarely dare to give speeches, interviews or statements in English. Incidentally, FDP legend Hans-Dietrich Genscher left a very nice linguistic quip: “My relationship to the French language is similar to that to my wife. I love them, but I don’t control them.”

I wish you a good start into the week, work it out.

It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor

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