BMWMajor shareholder and investor Susanne Klatten (61) has complained that there is too much distance between politics and business and has brought the migration of companies abroad into play. “Both sides find it difficult to communicate,” said Germany’s richest woman in an interview with “South German newspaper
“.
Klatten based her criticism primarily on the fact that there was a “fear of contact”. She presented this as an obstacle to progress. “A proximity to the economy could be misinterpreted by a politician. And entrepreneurs are sometimes accused of only looking for their own benefit,” said the entrepreneur. “A trustworthy understanding” is needed for the country’s common development. Instead, the tone was “occasionally not very constructive.” But Klatten didn’t want to be more specific. She “doesn’t want to talk about individual politicians.”
As particularly threatening to economic development in Germany the entrepreneur described the high energy prices. These particularly endanger the Large-scale chemicals. “It is at the beginning of value creation and supplies raw materials to probably everyone else Industries. It would be good to keep it in Germany.” If this industry were to relocate, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost, as well as a lot of knowledge. “We would then have to get the basic materials of almost all industrial products and the basic knowledge from abroad. Chemistry is a natural science. Why should you give it up?”
Klatten also predicts a structural change that will require more European sovereignty. “Germany needs to rethink its business model.” Over the past few decades, a model has been optimized that reads: “We buy raw materials “We Europeans must strive for sovereignty: technically and logistically, sustainably and circularly.”
“Europe must shape its own AI”
Klatten cited the further development of as an example of this sovereignty artificial intelligence (AI). “Europe needs to shape its own AI because it will differ culturally,” she said. Artificial intelligence is here now and will not go away, and it is Digital economy in Europe today much broader and more stable than before. “We can’t leave AI to the rest of the world,” said the entrepreneur.
Klatten also criticized new laws. For example, the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act requires a lot of documentation, which many medium-sized companies and… Startups be overwhelmed.
Klatten and her brother Stefan Quandt are on the current one Manager magazine’s richest list in first place. After a temporary loss, they were able to recapture this with assets estimated at 40.5 billion euros (2022: 33.3 billion euros).