Jörg Hofmann, First Chairman of IG Metall: “The top-level talks showed that we cannot afford any further delays. We have to bundle all resources in the transformation to the electric powertrain. There must be no wrong management of investments and skilled workers due to incomprehensible requirements of a Euro 7 regulation for combustion engines.
For more electric vehicles on the road, we urgently need many more public fast charging stations, an expanded power grid and more ecological energy. We expect more funding from the federal government beyond the boom regions and manageable legal rules for the expansion. The expansion of the charging infrastructure is dramatically behind the goals the federal government has set itself. If Germany wants to become the lead market for electromobility, it needs to be much more dynamic. The market will not do this alone.
We need a restructuring of the industry with resilient supply chains, domestic semiconductors and battery cell factories as well as a strategic realignment of car manufacturers towards mobility service providers. This includes the domestic mechanical engineering and its process competence. Companies and employees must not get under the wheels. The restructuring of this closely interlinked network of automotive value creation, which is also shaped by medium-sized companies, requires new ideas in industrial and labor market policy.
280,000 employees are dependent on the combustion engine and expect future prospects. They want to be part of the innovations and products of tomorrow and need social skills to do so: qualifications and social security.”