The former boss of German sports car manufacturer Porsche, Wendelin Wiedeking, is taking a tough stance on politics – and his view of the future of the European economy is bleak: “There will be layoffs, it will be at the expense of people,” the 72-year-old said.
In an interview with ‘Bild am Sonntag’, Wiedeking, who was the world’s highest-paid manager in 2008 with a salary of 100 million euros, takes stock of the current political leadership: ‘We are controlled by laymen who have learned nothing from their lives and have achieved nothing other than making a big statement in politics. Today we are controlled by politicians who actually have no real professional experience.’ With catastrophic consequences – also for Austria.
Too much attention has been paid to the European car industry
The consequences – for example for the German car industry and therefore also for the Austrian supplier industry – are fatal: “Politicians made specifications that were inadmissible. You can wish for anything, but it must also be feasible. I believe that too much attention has been paid to the entire European car industry. They have been threatened with high fines: next year, fines of 15 billion euros will be due if the car industry does not meet the CO₂ requirements. You are strangling the most important economic factor that Europe has.”
As for the economy, people are shooting themselves right now: “Laws have been passed that are now affecting many companies: there will be layoffs, at the expense of people. We are losing the most important economic factor we have and with it a large part of our prosperity.”
“Many supply companies are fighting for their existence”
Wiedeking leaves no doubt that the entire economy will suffer: “Many supply companies are fighting for their existence. Many mechanical engineers are fighting for their existence. The steel mills are fighting for their existence. Everything is so expensive here and it is impossible to ignore where it will end. We have really set Germany on fire, in every corner at once. And people can’t stand that. I can only hope that the next government will no longer be a traffic light.”
“People are restless and afraid of the future”
The biggest problem: politicians are more concerned with restrictive regulations than with providing momentum and optimism. “Today we have an exaggerated policy that is driven by a green ideology that has nothing to do with reality. And that is our problem: people in this country are restless, they are afraid of the future. And if politics does not make dramatic changes, make more politics for the people and not against the people and take them on a path to another world, then at some point we will have a big problem,” says Wiedeking.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
