Four federal states with VW locations – Lower Saxony, Saxony, Hesse and Berlin – want to work together to ensure that the ailing car manufacturer does not close any locations. The full preservation of all locations is the first goal of the economics ministers of these countries, according to a joint position paper dated October 10th. “This means that the individual locations are not played off against each other.”
The state ministers also reject “hard cuts” at the expense of employees. In the future, a renewed, long-term contract to secure employment must ensure that jobs are protected and know-how is retained, they demand. “Once expertise is lost, it usually remains lost or can only be restored with great effort,” warn Olaf Lies (57, Lower Saxony), Martin Dulig (50, Saxony), Kaweh Mansoori (36, Hesse) and Franziska Giffey (46, Berlin). ). All four department heads belong to the SPD.
New government purchasing incentives are intended to stimulate demand
The abrupt elimination of the electric car bonus last year caused demand for battery cars to collapse in Germany. For manufacturers, this means that their factories are underutilized and because of the Stricter EU fleet targets for CO₂ emissions in Europe from 2025 There is a risk of high fines.
The economics ministers of the four countries are therefore also promoting new purchasing incentives, like those of Germany Auto industry should give momentum again. Specifically, we are talking about a sales promotion program “that primarily benefits the domestic automobile industry and at the same time excludes deadweight effects and social injustice.”
“Stopping the purchase bonus for electric cars was wrong and caused even more reluctance in a situation in which many people are already questioning their consumer behavior,” criticized Lower Saxony’s Minister Lies. The federal government should therefore quickly reintroduce the environmental bonus. “Purchase premiums were and are of great importance in order to spread the word Electric cars and thus boost production.”
In addition, the four state ministers are calling for, among other things, a gradual rather than sudden reduction in CO₂ fleet limits and lower energy prices for industry. There are also calls for the expansion of e-charging stations and cheaper charging current at public charging points, for example in the form of a reduction in the tax on them.
Meanwhile, the ministers reject criticism of the planned phase-out of combustion engines, such as that coming from the CDU/CSU and AfD. Debates about a return to combustion engines unsettled buyers as well as companies and investors, they write. “I have often said that openness to technology leads to disorientation. And that’s exactly what we can’t use at this stage or in the next few years,” said Lies.