German business leaders are coming out against the ruling left-liberal government, and one of the biggest, the CEO of Deutsche Börse AG, a multinational corporation that operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world, is now labeling the current government’s policy as “a disaster” on a range of issues, including migration and economic policy.
Theodor Weimer issued the scathing rebuke against the ruling government at an event organized by the Bavarian Economic Advisory Council.
During his speech at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, Weimer said, “I have now had my 18th meeting with our Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck, and I can tell you, it’s a sheer catastrophe.”
The 64-year-old Weimer, who has a bird’s-eye view of the German economy through his role as the boss of the largest stock exchange in the country, said that his talks with international investors gave him “direct knowledge” of their opinions on Germany. He noted that “I know half of the DAX CEOs. I know bosses personally and on a first-name basis. And I get around a lot. I don’t want to spoil things tonight, but.our reputation in the world has never been as bad as it is now.”
He said that the “discussions with investors have a fatalistic character. Investors are saying that if you carry on like this, we will sun you even more, we will get even further out of Germany.”
He further laid on the criticism, stating: “You’re just crazy, just crazy. What kind of government do you have there? You’re well on the way to becoming a really outdated economy.”
Furthermore, Weimer warned that the situation was not getting better and that while Habeck was receptive to his input in the beginning about how to return Germany to its former economic strength, he was increasingly listening to “fundamentalists” who are “getting through more and more.”
“The truth is this: International investors say we only invest in Germany because you are so cheap. We have become a junk store,” he claimed.
The speech was made on April 17 but has only become public now after the Economic Advisory Board posted it on Youtube.
Weimer also delved into an issue that has plagued stock markets around the world, which is that fundamentals no longer drive markets, but instead speculation, momentum and other factors.
He noted that the DAX (an index of 40 major German companies) remains strong, but that investors putting their money in German companies at the moment are “only opportunistic” and not investing for fundamentals. They also demand a “risk premium” when putting their money in Germany.
“We used to have a risk discount because the whole world said that Germany was great,” he noted.
Migration policy is ‘completely wrong
Weimer also briefly touched on the topic of migration, but his remarks were equally scathing there. He said he did not wish to get too political, but he could not help but say something in regard to the ruling left-liberal government’s migration policy, which he said was “universally perceived as completely wrong. Our orientation towards ‘do-gooderism’ is not shared anywhere.”
He continued on the topic, saying: “If you have a shortage of skilled workers, you bring in people who speak your language and generate social product, but not those who collect 50 percent of the citizen’s income and send it somewhere.”
Defense policy is ‘madness’
From there, he jumped into the topic of defense, stating that Germany has been “cheating” on defense spending and failing to hit the 2 percent target expected of all NATO countries. This cheating, he noted, took the form of including “pensions” in Germany’s calculations, which should not actually count towards defense spending.
“Do you think that no one in the USA realizes what we are doing? This is madness: We have ammunition for one and a half to two days,” he said.
