what has Friedrich Merz with the CDU? The answer to this question will influence the political landscape in Germany for many years to come. If the designated party chairman turned the CDU back into an economically liberal-conservative fighting force, he might weaken the AfD. But in the middle, the traffic light parties could spread undisturbed.
Or Merz succeeds in selling the CDU as a reservoir for common sense: as a people’s party that has a recognizable conservative wing, but remains eligible for citizens who have little use for traditional jackets and housewife marriage.
In the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, Merz’s arrival is already casting its personal shadow, as Handelsblatt reporter Daniel Delhaes has found out. Julia Klöckner is to give up her position as deputy chairwoman and become federal treasurer. Klöckner is certain: “As a kind of all-round caretaker, Merz will go from the basement to the roof and put a lot of things to the test.”
The Union’s social politicians are concerned that the “huge imbalance in the parliamentary group and party in favor of the economic wing” could continue, as the deputy head of the workforce (CDA), Dennis Radtke, put it. He referred to the voter analysis for the federal election. Accordingly, the Union has not been particularly convincing when it comes to social issues. Radtke advises: “Merz will have to emancipate himself a bit from the Ultras in his fan curve if he wants to get the CDU back on the road to success.”
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Since I’ve been working as a business journalist, i.e. for almost a quarter of a century, I’ve kept hearing: Germany is “overbanked”, too many bank counters are competing for too small a number of customers. Statistics from the European Central Bank, which the Handelsblatt has evaluated, now show: At least when it comes to the branches, this is not true at all, there are significantly fewer of these in Germany relative to the number of inhabitants than in many other European countries.
The number of bank branches in Germany fell by a dramatic 39 percent between 2007 and 2020. And when I think of the shopping street in my neighborhood, that’s almost exactly the case. A few years ago there was a full range of Sparkasse, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Hypovereinsbank and Volksbank. The latter two have shut down, making 40 percent less. Have you ever counted how many bank branches in your area have disappeared?
The fact that German banks still cannot match those in the rest of Europe in terms of productivity and profitability is due to two other factors. There are a lot of banks in this country – and an unusually large number of employees work for them.
In the euro zone there are an average of 12.3 banking companies per million inhabitants, in Germany it is 17.4. In Germany there are 6,917 employees per one million inhabitants. The average in the euro zone is only 5,326 employees.
Paradoxically, it is precisely the many mostly small savings banks and Volksbanks in the country that earn the most money per customer. Andreas Pratz, partner at the management consultancy “Strategy &”: “Cooperative banks achieve earnings of more than 700 euros per customer, savings banks more than 500, commercial banks 300 to 450 euros.”
When it comes to earnings per customer, almost all companies can learn from Porsche. The number dwarf is a margin giant. And the Porsche 911 is particularly profitable, something like the standard meter among sports cars. Porsche hopes to continue building the cult car as a combustion engine and is therefore investing heavily in the development of e-fuels: a climate-neutral gasoline substitute that is produced using electricity from water and CO2.
(Photo: Porsche)
Many in the industry consider this to be a technological mistake. In fact, Porsche still has a plan B, as my colleagues Martin Buchenau and Roman Tyborski report. If, in the end, the EU does not accept e-fuels as a CO2-free alternative for car traffic, but for example in air traffic – then Porsche, as an e-fuel supplier to the airlines, would receive CO2 certificates, with which the company in turn reduces the emissions of its 911s could compensate.
Suggestion: Perhaps, as a logical consequence, we have to move on to allocating each 911 driver only as many liters of gasoline as he previously flown CO2-free. That would add a whole new attraction to earning miles.
In Kazakhstan, it is the rising prices for normal fuel that are currently driving demonstrators to the streets in many cities. The government declared a state of emergency on parts of the country on Tuesday evening. The protests are increasingly directed against Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The autocratic ruler of the country resigned as president of the resource-rich country in 2019 after almost 30 years. In fact, the “leader of the nation” still holds the strings of power in his hand. He has made Kazakhstan an ally of Russia – which is why the protests in Moscow are likely to be followed with particular suspicion.
And then there is the “Spiegel”, which celebrated its 75th birthday yesterday – and on this occasion made the republic happy with a click machine, the potential of which is addictive to hard drugs. If you enter your birthday here, you will see the notebook that was on the kiosk during your own birth. For me it was just something to be expected with the RAF. But yesterday my Twitter timeline was full of people who wondered whether the “mirror” with the birth cover had anticipated their path in life in a puzzling way.
I wish you a day when you are your own titular hero.
Best regards
Her
Christian Rickens
Head of Text Handelsblatt
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