Germany has been Europe’s economic engine for decades, pulling the region through one crisis after another. But that resilience is breaking down, and it spells danger for the whole continent.
Decades of flawed energy policy, the demise of combustion-engine cars and a sluggish transition to new technologies are converging to pose the most fundamental threat to the nation’s prosperity since reunification. But unlike in 1990, the political class lacks the leadership to tackle the structural issues gnawing at the heart of the country’s competitiveness.
“We’ve been naive as a society because everything seems fine,” BASF SE Chief Executive Officer Martin Brudermuller said. “These problems we have in Germany are accumulating. We have a period of change ahead of us; I don’t know if everyone realizes this.”
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
As an addition to the 2019 EU Green Deal, the Green Deal Industrial Plan was introduced in 2023. The goal is to scale up manufacturing of clean technologies in
A modest wealth tax on the richest 350 families in the UK could raise more than £20bn a year – enough to fund the construction of 145,000 new affordable home
Rumman Chowdhury often has trouble sleeping, but, to her, this is not a problem that requires solving. She has what she calls “2am brain”, a different sort
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Good Mon
