In view of the crisis at Volkswagen, the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI) has called on politicians to improve the framework conditions for the economy. On Saturday, BDI President Siegfried Russwurm criticized energy prices and taxes that were too high, as well as “excessive bureaucracy” and “sometimes unreliable public infrastructure”. The left-wing party leader Janine Wissler called on VW Group shareholders to pay back billions in dividends against the backdrop of possible factory closures and operational layoffs. “The problems in Germany are obvious,” BDI boss Russwurm told “Welt am Sonntag”. But he “doesn’t yet have the impression that politicians have sufficiently understood”. This puts a strain on “large parts of the industry, not just individual companies.” Volkswagen has mostly experienced very strong years and decades, emphasized the BDI boss. “Important general conditions have recently deteriorated fundamentally in Germany.” This causes “bigger problems in individual markets and market segments than in others,” said Russwurm. He called on politicians to advance the rapid establishment of e-mobility “in line with securing Germany as a strong industrial location”. Deteriorated competitiveness of German production locations The management of the Volkswagen Group’s core brand VW announced tougher austerity measures on Monday, including factory closures and redundancies for operational reasons no longer excluded. CEO Oliver Blume cited the difficult situation on the European car market and the deteriorating competitiveness of German production locations as the reason. Left boss Wissler pointed out that VW paid out 4.5 billion euros to its shareholders in the last financial year. It is “incredibly shabby” that the Volkswagen Group is now claiming that “it cannot raise five billion euros to prevent plant closures and layoffs,” she told the “Rheinische Post” on Saturday. “If VW really needs money so urgently, then the major shareholders like the Porsche-Piëch clan should pay back these 4.5 billion euros.”More on the topicIt is time that the people who are causing the misery are not responsible take responsibility, said Wissler. “It cannot be the case that the employees and, in the end, the taxpayers pay the bill for years of mismanagement, while the shareholders continue to enrich themselves.”Esken: VW leadership did not take e-mobility seriously for a long timeSPD leader Saskia Esken warned the company management against factory closures . “VW management must ask itself whether it is leading the group into a sustainable future with layoffs and plant closures,” she told the “Handelsblatt”. “Especially in view of the demographic change, this only exacerbates the crisis.” The VW boss accused Esken of having “not taken electromobility seriously for many years” and at the same time relying heavily on the Chinese market with combustion engines. But it is precisely this market that is now switching completely to electromobility and no longer works for VW. “We cannot solve this with political measures alone.” The company is in demand here. Esken ruled out financial aid from the federal government to stabilize the VW Group. She referred to the austerity constraints in the federal budget. There is “no great scope for financing there”. Esken also rejects a new purchase bonus for electric cars. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was confident that the German car industry would master the current upheavals despite the crisis at Volkswagen. The German automotive industry builds “the best cars in the world,” he told the “Tagesspiegel” on Saturday. Contrary to what many would have thought, this also applies to electric vehicles. That is why the automotive industry will “remain an important branch of our industrial country.”
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