“It is not wise to categorically rule out an extension of the term”

Berlin Longtime Siemens boss Joe Kaeser campaigned for the Greens before the general election, but now he is disappointed. “It is not wise to categorically rule out an extension of the term,” he says, referring to the party’s nuclear course. “Otherwise we’ll stumble from one tactical debate to the next.”

He appreciates the honesty of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). “He can admit mistakes,” he said. But one could argue whether it was wise to stop oil and gas imports from Russia without having an alternative. “Something like this would be unforgivable in business, here you would have had to bind other suppliers first,” said the manager, who now heads the supervisory boards of Daimler Truck and Siemens Energy.

In an interview with the Handelsblatt, he also criticizes the energy package planned by the federal government as “unsustainable”, considers the plan to do without coal from 2030 to be illusory – and warns of a massive deindustrialization of Germany.