on Tuesday evening, the deputy head of Gazprombank spoke up in a sensational video on YouTube. In it, Igor Volobuyev explains his flight back to his home country, Ukraine: “I want to wash away my Russian past.”
Bulgaria and Poland can confirm this only too well. Gas was cut off in both countries, which caused gas prices in Europe to rise by almost 20 percent. Economics Minister Robert Habeck announces that Germany is now only 35 percent dependent on Russian gas, down from 55 percent before. Small successes also give courage.
German companies are reacting to the incessant threats from Moscow with precautionary measures. Crisis teams are established, emergency plans drawn up. Energy suppliers are increasingly relying on gas storage, which is currently 33.5 percent full. Meanwhile, the debate begins as to who will be given preference in the country in the event of extreme gas shortages.
The first managers openly question the established principle that private households should be given priority. “A balance has to be found,” says Mats Gökstorp, CEO of sensor specialist Sick. And Eon supervisory board chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley even calls for privileged supply for the industry. Politicians should “think very seriously about whether to reverse the order and switch off first in private and then in industry,” he said in “Manager Magazin”. People’s incomes, the reasoning goes, depend on industry remaining able to work.
We learn from Albert Einstein: “There are two ways of living: either as if nothing were a miracle, or as if everything were a miracle.”
For a long time it had been incomprehensible that a country in the European Union could work undisturbed to establish Russian conditions here as well. Only now is Brussels trying to stop Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on his way to becoming a second Vladimir Putin. For the first time in its history, the European Commission is launching proceedings against a member state to cut funding for that country.
The accusation from Brussels is that the Orban government is fraudulently misdirecting EU funds and using them for corruption. Nepotism is part of the reason of state in Hungary’s ruling party Fidesz. Budapest still collects almost five billion euros from the EU budget every year, around 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product. This sum could be history if the rule of law proceedings that have now been initiated will be completed in nine months.
(Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker)
There will be no scandal between the federal government and the opposition on the issue of military aid to Ukraine, as there was with compulsory vaccination. The traffic light coalition and the Union want to decide on a joint application for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine this Thursday in the Bundestag. After some amendments to the proposal presented by the government, the Union faction will appear to agree and withdraw its own, more extensive draft.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) had announced the delivery of “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks from industrial stocks and the training of Ukrainian soldiers on German soil. Ammunition for the “cheetah” is said to come from Brazil. It is still unclear whether there will be an agreement between Ampel and the Union on a planned amendment to the Basic Law for the Bundeswehr’s 100 billion euro special fund.
The stock market seems to be in a state of exhausted despair, where small signals of hope lead to big jumps. That’s how it was yesterday at the Facebook group Meta Platforms. Facebook’s daily active users rose slightly in the first three months of 2022 — sending the stock up 20 percent in after-hours trading. Investors failed to mention that Mark Zuckerberg’s empire had grown more slowly in the first quarter than it had last done when it went public ten years ago.
Limited advertising budgets of the companies and new data protection rules from Apple were the reason for the deceleration. Profits even fell by a fifth due to investments in the virtual Metaverse. The day before, Google, the number one in online advertising, had presented disappointing figures. Even the “digital wonder boys” apparently have to take a break once in a while.
What defines “New Work”? How will we work in the future? We want to talk about this with renowned experts on June 1st and 2nd. Our new Work in Progress event will include VW board member Gunnar Kilian, Stepstone CEO Sebastian Dettmers and bestselling author Dorie Clark. I managed to save ten tickets. The first letters get the contract. Please write to [email protected] – and let us know whether you want to be there in person or virtually
And then there’s the largest diamond in the world, dubbed The De Beers Cullinan Blue. The gem has now been put up for sale at an auction in Hong Kong. An anonymous bidder ended up doing the deal at Sotheby’s – paying more than $57 million for it. The miracle stone was found in a South African mine in 2021. Officially, the jewel has been classified as a Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond. The “Oppenheimer Blue” was only more expensive in 2016.
“Virtue’s tombstones are usually bought at jewelers,” said writer Oscar Blumenthal, slightly mockingly.
I wish you a productive day.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
PS: As always, I ask myself: Is something missing? Have we been too long, too flippant, too serious? Do the graphics need to be more colorful? But the most important question today is: How do you find it? How should we develop the morning briefing further? It would be nice if you could answer a few questions for us. Feedback wanted!