Another week of waiting for war lies ahead of Europe. And you don’t even know what you should now consider more unbelievable: That Vladimir Putin with his battalions deployed on the border is actually attacking Ukraine on a broad front – that would be a criminal war of aggression with tank armies, artillery fire and bombing raids, like the continent has been using since did not live to see the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Or the alternative scenario: that the approximately 130,000 soldiers who have been brought together from all over Russia simply withdraw again, as the Russian government promises, and the whole spook will pass.
After warnings from the US that a Russian invasion could be imminent as early as this week, phone calls from US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron to their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the weekend did not bring any breakthrough. The newly re-elected Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to Putin on Sunday: “Untie the noose around Ukraine’s neck, look with us for a way that preserves peace in Europe.”
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Beyond the speeches and declarations of solidarity from the West, reality speaks a cold language: more than 30 countries have called on their compatriots to leave Ukraine – and on Saturday the federal government as well. Some embassies in Kiev will be largely closed or relocated to the west of the country. The first airlines such as KLM have already stopped air traffic to Ukraine. Lufthansa is still checking.
Conclusion: It must feel very lonely these days to be a Ukrainian.
A look at Moscow is also interesting: Our correspondent there, André Ballin, reports that that according to the independent survey institute Levada Center, the majority of the Russian population also fears a war in Ukraine – But the blame for the tensions lies with Kiev and Washington.
According to the Russian interpretation, the constant warnings of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are intended to distract attention from the fact that Kiev is planning an offensive against the separatist republics in Donbass, and above all to prevent Moscow from helping the pro-Russian regimes in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner says in an interview with the Handelsblatt: “The Kremlin should not be subject to the misconception that it can cross political and territorial borders without paying a high price.” The commissioning of a pipeline is only one aspect. He did not want to give details of possible sanctions, for example against the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
With a rather symbolic personal detail, Lindner makes it clear that he does not want to lose his ideological Vademecum because of all the red-green-yellow coalition reasons: The former economist Lars Feld, 55, is to become chief economic adviser to Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).. However, Feld is not to become an employee of the ministry, but rather to remain independent in the future as a professor at the University of Freiburg. Lindner is still looking for a head of the policy department – who was formerly known as the Treasury Department’s chief economist.
Feld is considered a convinced ordoliberal. As a representative of that economic school of thought in which the state as a strong arbiter sets and monitors the rules of market events, but does not appear as a player itself. Until the financial crisis, this position marked the mainstream in German economics. In the meantime, ordoliberals like Feld have almost become outsiders in the political debate – the SPD pushed Feld 2021 out of the Expert Council of Economic Experts. All the more gratifying Lindner’s signal.
The state should fix it: Unfortunately, this is also a very common attitude among German corporations – especially when it comes to using the taxpayer for your own investments. A few years ago, like exhausted six-year-olds on a Sunday stroll, German car companies whined for state aid (“Dad, I can’t take it anymore, build me a charging network”). Tesla founder Elon Musk preferred to create facts and covered Europe with a network of his company’s “superchargers”. Since then, Tesla has been the only electric car brand that allows you to take long journeys without constantly asking yourself: Will the next charging station work? And do I have the right app for it?
The reward for Musk’s entrepreneurial courage can be seen in the registration figures: Tesla was able to increase its vehicle population in Germany by 78 percent in 2021. With a total of 34,389 vehicles registered in Germany, Tesla is still only a niche player, but this is likely to change quickly with this rate of growth.
Tesla also demands a lot from the state – namely fast approval processes, even if their own plans are constantly changing. Two years ago, Tesla began building its factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg. Now the plant is almost finished, but there is still no final building permit. In theory, the state of Brandenburg could oblige Tesla to demolish the entire factory at its own expense.
Tesla starts looking for a location for a large European plant in 2018 – the company had Germany in mind in particular.
Our reporters Silke Kersting and Dietmar Neuerer have reconstructed the thriller about the Grünheide factory building. They tell the story of an unlikely hero: It was Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) who invited Tesla managers to a sightseeing flight in an Antonov double-decker on September 26, 2019 to convince them how much space his state had for Teslas have plans to offer. Steinbach then put the project through all planning instances and objection procedures. At one point, the minister was so close to failing that he had to urgently treat himself to a West Cork single malt Irish whisky.
Conclusion: The Grünheide saga shows what is possible in Germany when politicians see themselves as enablers.
And then there is Olaf Scholz, who has been under @bundeskanzler since yesterday an official Twitter account operates. From now on, his previous channel @OlafScholz will be about the SPD and his constituency. After a short congratulations to the re-elected Federal President, an announcement followed on Sunday evening in the usual baroque, exuberant Scholz tone: “I became Chancellor with the aim of explaining my politics – from now on this should also be done on this channel. At least to the extent that the 280 characters allow it. I am happy!”
My guess: For Olaf Scholz, the main challenge will be to eventually fill up the 280 characters.
I wish you a day when you know how to interpret all the signs correctly.
Best regards,
Her
Christian Rickens