Good morning, dear readers,
other people bring a couple of Blume 2000 tulips or the bottle of Deinhard that was still gathering dust somewhere in the basement when they visit. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is literally bringing out heavier artillery: During a surprise visit to Kyiv, he promised the Ukrainian government the delivery of more than 100 older Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks. A group of European countries will deliver them in stages.
The Federal Ministry of Economics announced that it had approved the export of up to 178 Leopard 1A5. However, at least part of it is not expected to arrive in Ukraine until 2024.
Compared to Pistorius, Economics Minister Robert Habeck had to fulfill a less dangerous but more delicate mission yesterday. You have to realize that a trip to Washington means a similar reality check for European ministers as a trip to Hollywood does for a ZDF series actor. Even if he has already been awarded the “Goldenen Henne” by “Super Illu” at home, he still has to queue at the end of the Warner Brothers studio tour: “No, Sir, never heard of SOKO Leipzig.”
And just because you can call yourself vice chancellor at home doesn’t mean you’re immediately given the Oval Office in Washington. Robert Habeck knows that and gives the low-flyer. He repeatedly emphasized that his trip was only a “working visit”. His travel companion and French colleague Bruno Le Maire made it clearer: Habeck and he were on their way “to defend the interests of European industry”.
By now you know the problem that needs to be defended against: it goes by the name of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the US’s estimated $370 billion subsidy program. The Europeans are particularly bothered by the disadvantages for electric cars and batteries that do not come from North American production. Le Maire said yesterday: “It is not our intention and it was never our intention to change American law.”
No one in Washington would be willing to do that anyway. Instead, the Europeans could influence the guidelines of the US Treasury Department for the implementation of the IRA – in order to mitigate one or the other discrimination.
What sometimes goes down in the IRA excitement: The Europeans also subsidize eco-technologies such as electric cars or heat pumps with the very thick delivery pipe. Simone Tagliapietra from the Bruegel Institute in Brussels says: “If you compare the numbers, Europe spends more money on green subsidies than the US.”
This realization will hardly slow anyone down when the EU heads of government meet at a special summit this Thursday to discuss a European response to the IRA. In a draft of the summit declaration, which is available to the Handelsblatt, the EU Commission is asked to relax the state aid rules for the member states: The processes must become simpler and more predictable so that “targeted, temporary and appropriate” support can flow quickly to the important sectors for the green conversion of the economy.
We translate in simple language: more tax money for everything that can be declared green.
So, just as I’m writing this morning briefing, our Silicon Valley correspondent Stephan Scheuer sent me a Slack message: “What Microsoft is rolling out here in Redmond is pretty cool stuff. That will keep us busy for a long time.”
Among other things, the software company wants to expand its chronically unsuccessful Internet search Bing with an intelligent chatbot. The company is thus challenging the world’s largest search engine provider, Google. “Today the race begins,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the company’s headquarters in Redmond near Seattle.
If Microsoft even catches up in the race for best Internet search, it would indeed be an era break. It’s been so long since I’ve used Bing I’d probably have to google it first. It is not for nothing that colleague Scheuer speaks of a “new iPhone moment” in his comment.
From the digital to the analogue worlds: I associate fond childhood memories with the magazines from Gruner+ Jahr (G+J). A subscription to “Eating and Drinking” ensured that Iglo gourmet filet à la Bordelaise was no longer the pinnacle of culinary delights in my parents’ house. The then still mildly pornographic covers of the “Stern” gave me my first insights into the female anatomy. And “PM” helped me through the years when I was too old for “Yps” and too young for “Tempo”. But, as a former Handelsblatt editor-in-chief liked to say: “Nostalgia is not a business model.”
G+J has now merged with RTL. Yesterday, the joint parent company, Bertelsmann, announced that a large part of its own magazine titles would be discontinued or sold, including “Food and Drink” and “PM”. 700 of the 1900 jobs in the magazine sector are to be cut, and many of my Hamburg journalist colleagues will be affected. This makes it difficult to look objectively.
This view should probably lead to the realization that at some point in the noughties, G+J missed the diversion towards digitization and instead got bogged down in ever more absurd offshoots of its established magazine brands. The former collective campfires became publishing will-o’-the-wisps. I only found out from yesterday’s sales decision that there actually was a title called “Food and drink for every day low carb”.
I wish you a rich start to each day.
Best regards
Your Christian Rickens
Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
PS: US President Joe Biden extended his hand to Republicans in his State of the Union address yesterday. “To my Republican friends, we were able to work together in the last Congress, there’s no reason we can’t work together in this Congress and find consensus on important things,” Biden said. The US President also stated that he wanted to give even more support to the domestic industry and to rely on the “Made in America” principle. He also praised the robust US economy and low unemployment of 3.4 percent as an achievement of his government.
