Berlin The German economy is heading for uncertain times. The corona pandemic has not yet been overcome, but new setbacks are already looming as a result of the Ukraine war, the Russian sanctions and the constantly rising energy prices. From the point of view of the SME and Economic Union (MIT), any additional burden is poison for the economy.
The business wing of the CDU/CSU was all the more astonished about the new bureaucracy that is currently looming in Brussels. In a kind of poison list, which is available to the Handelsblatt, MIT lists almost 50 EU regulation projects on 55 pages that would burden companies and consumers. The spectrum ranges from the planned taxonomy and the European supply chain law to the revision of the chemicals regulation Reach to the addition of biofuels to aviation fuel.
The economy is currently confronted with an “unprecedented situation” in which there should be no “business as usual” and no bans on thinking, said the MIT federal chairwoman and CDU member of the Bundestag Gitta Connemann the Handelsblatt. “Legislators and legislators cannot and must not look the other way.” That applies to the federal government, the federal states and, above all, to the EU. Regulatory projects would have to be put on hold. “We need emergency braking for loads.”
In its “Saarland Declaration”, which was decided at the closed conference in St. Ingbert at the beginning of March, the CDU federal executive also writes that the energy price inflation and the supply chain disruptions caused by the attack on Ukraine are already putting a considerable strain on Germany’s economy. In addition, many companies have decided to limit their business relations with Russia and have thus shown a high sense of responsibility.
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“Any further burden of political regulation must therefore be averted,” the statement said. “In addition to a national moratorium on stress, a reset is required at European level.”
>> Read here: “Subjective conceptions of social justice”: The EU Commission is now also planning a social taxonomy
According to a survey by the Ifo Institute published at the end of February, almost three out of four industrial companies are currently complaining about bottlenecks and problems in the procurement of preliminary products and raw materials. And even before the attack on Ukraine, companies surveyed by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) reported that they are increasingly encountering trade barriers worldwide.
In view of such difficulties, additional regulation is not timely, according to MIT. For example, the taxonomy regulation, with which the EU wants to define sustainable investments, brings a “jungle of new reporting obligations” through which, according to the will of the EU Parliament, medium-sized companies would also have to fight their way.
The planned European supply chain law to protect human rights goes far beyond national regulations; the EU overwhelms companies right down to the craft with unfulfillable due diligence obligations. Legal uncertainty and possibly lengthy disputes in court would be the result.
Numerous regulatory plans from Brussels are burdening companies and consumers.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
The Union economic wing is also critical of new plans for capital market regulation, for CO2 border adjustment or new reporting obligations for sustainable corporate management. With the minimum wage or the wage transparency directive, Brussels is also encroaching deeply on the competences of the national states or the social partners.
However, MIT is also concerned that Russia’s war in Ukraine will be used “as a pretext for systematic permanent public debt in Europe”. Because in the meantime it is openly questioned whether the EU should return to the temporarily suspended Maastricht debt rules in 2023.
>> Read here: Extension of state of emergency: EU considers further suspension of debt rules
Like the Union economic wing, business associations are therefore also demanding an adjustment to the new realities and a change of course at European level: “Everyone is talking about a turning point and new priorities,” said the general manager of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), Steffen Kampeter, to the Handelsblatt . “It is time that those responsible in Brussels set their priorities on growth and economic development.” Europe must not become a brake on growth.
The companies are fully supportive of the sanctions against Russia, but more and more are already seeing that the sanctions are causing major “collateral damage” at home, says the general manager of the family business association, Albrecht von der Hagen. Against this background, a moratorium on stress is urgently needed. “The next two to three years will be very difficult for companies and their jobs,” emphasizes von der Hagen. “The minimum thing is that no new burdens are being imposed on the entrepreneurs.”
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