German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met today with representatives of the country’s chemical companies, who claim that the industry is on the verge of collapse because of the war in Ukraine. This is reported by Bild.
It is noted that the chemical industry is the third largest in Germany. Now the industry employs more than 1.1 million people at more than eight thousand enterprises. This year its output fell by 16.5% compared to last year, and in 2022 the decline was even greater – about 20%.
The industry is significantly dependent on energy prices, and they have only been rising since the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. This, in turn, has been superimposed on the German government’s, to put it mildly, ineffective energy policy.
Scholz was handed a document prepared by regional officials, which shows that Germany’s chemical industry is threatened with massive job cuts as many production facilities are about to be relocated to cheaper sites abroad.
“The decline in production and the loss of orders are depriving our industry of confidence. Policy makers should not stay on the sidelines and simply monitor what is happening,” the VCI Chemical Industry Association said in an open letter.
Manufacturers need a package of measures that will reduce energy costs and put an end to the “bureaucratic madness,” said VCI managing director Wolfgang Entrup.
As media reported, Germans booed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during an election tour of the country amid problems over aid to Ukraine, Spiegel wrote.
Despite the fact that the politicians represent different parties, Scholz – the Social Democrats and Baerbock – the Green Party, Germans met them with the same discontent.
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