In the course of the energy crisis, the family entrepreneurs are warning of insolvencies in medium-sized companies.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Many family entrepreneurs are dissatisfied with the federal government’s energy policy, and they particularly dislike the course taken by Green Economics Minister Robert Habeck. The resentment is so great that they want to take to the streets this Friday before the start of the three-day Greens federal party conference in Bonn.
“The miserable crisis management by the heads of the Ministry of Economic Affairs has fueled the rise in gas and electricity prices instead of calming it down,” said Albrecht von der Hagen, general manager of the Association of Family Businesses, the Handelsblatt.
“That has a lot to do with green ideology, which would rather accept the exodus or bankruptcy of industrial companies than having coal-fired power plants connected to the grid in good time or leaving the few nuclear power plants running until winter 2024,” von der Hagen accuses the Greens before.
By sticking to their “pre-war” policy, they drove up fear in the country parallel to the energy prices: fear that the value chains in Germany would be “completely torn apart” by the energy prices and would have to give up their own businesses.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
In the action before the Green party conference, the companies will demand that the nuclear power plants run longer. “Entrepreneurs don’t want to be left on the subsidy drip, they expect the government to finally increase the supply of cheap electricity,” says von der Hagen. But the Greens prefer to burn the expensive gas for electricity production.
Entrepreneurs see many jobs at risk
“It is completely incomprehensible to me why the Federal Ministry of Economics has negated an electricity problem all summer and in this situation is also imposing restrictions on energy producers so that they do not return to the market or return too late,” says Ralf Herre, entrepreneur from Heiligenhaus in North Rhine-Westphalia. His company Zismann produces zinc and aluminum die-cast parts, many of them with electricity.
“On 1.1. we will get the receipt, because then our contract will expire and it will be really expensive. I’m talking about millions in additional costs. It’s hard to do,” says Herre.
Karl Tack, entrepreneur from Burgbrohl in Rhineland-Palatinate, accuses politicians of not understanding the seriousness of the situation. “Large parts of the previous savings in the industrial sector do not come from sudden increases in efficiency, but because the companies shut down or stop their production,” he says – and warns of insolvencies in medium-sized companies. Many well-paid skilled worker positions were permanently lost.
Harald von Waitz, head of the machine and electrical systems manufacturer Uniflex Hydraulics in Karben, Hesse, also criticizes the government, but above all the Federal Ministry of Economics. “The fact that we have to struggle with high gas prices is not the fault of the traffic light, but that is precisely why action should have been taken in the electricity sector long ago,” says von Waitz. “Everything has to be connected to the network now,” he said. “With its attitude of denial, the Federal Ministry of Economics has planted an unparalleled social explosive device. And the SPD, which always calls itself social, watched.”
>> Read here: Joe Kaeser about Habeck’s nuclear course – “It is not wise to categorically rule out a lifetime extension”
Starting this Friday afternoon, the Greens will meet for their three-day party conference, the first full party conference in almost three years. Because of the corona pandemic, the delegates have met since the party conference in November 2019, either primarily online or for small party conferences.
At the start of the conference, high inflation, social cohesion and strengthening the economy will be debated, and in the late evening energy supply in winter. In addition to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, BDI boss Siegfried Russwurm will also speak as a guest at the party conference. On Saturday we continue with the topics of security and peace policy, on Sunday with climate policy.
More: “Nuclear power? No thanks”: Greens before a difficult party conference