The president of the employers' association for the metal and electricity industries has made some serious accusations against the federal government: paternalism, economic planning and naivety are just some of the points on his list.

Stefan Wolf, the President of the German Metal and Electricity Industry Association, has sharply criticised the federal government, accusing it of steering the country towards a planned economy. The degree of freedom in our country is currently too limited, and this applies to society in general and to companies in particular,” Mr Wolf told the German Handelsblatt newspaper. He added that

some members of the coalition thought they had to impose their ideology on people, as if only they knew how to live.

Mr Wolf believes that this approach also applies to relations with international partners. As he put it:

„And then Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock comes along and thinks she can tell the Chinese what to do and what not to do. This is so completely naive.”

He also stressed that we must remember to look at the world as a whole. Germany is in a very bad position internationally, because of its bureaucracy, lack of skilled labour and taxes. When young people coming from abroad see what the tax rates are, they prefer to go elsewhere, and this is one of the reasons why Germany is not a good place to do business at the moment.

However, Mr Wolf noted that this is not entirely the responsibility of the Social Democrat-Green Liberal government. The fact that Germany is in such a bad shape in terms of digitalisation is also due to previous governments. He warned that politicians should not try to impose unrealistic targets through bans and restrictions, as this would stifle companies.

He therefore called for a return to a social market economy. „With so many bans, regulations and red tape, we are now moving towards a command economy. And when it comes to social welfare, we can certainly afford more than we can earn in a market economy,” he added.