The organizers had to put together more than 1,200 chairs in the large trading floor of the Chamber of Commerce, so many commitments had been received for the “Assembly of an honorable businessman” on Friday – and the expectations of the speech by Chamber President Norbert Aust were high at this time, which was characterized by great economic uncertainty . Traditionally, this New Year’s Eve speech presents the economy’s view of developments in Germany and Hamburg, only the merchants themselves have the right to speak, the members of the Senate have to listen in silence. Aust took the opportunity to call for an “Hamburg 2040 Innovation Offensive” for the Hanseatic city, the chamber itself had recently published a concept for this.
The Hamburg state government should also take the dividend payment that it receives from its stake in Hapag-Lloyd in order to significantly advance innovations in all areas. Last year it was around 800 million euros, in 2023 it should be around one billion euros. “We should invest this money in the future of our location. Because Hamburg has the potential to become one of the world’s leading innovation locations,” says Aust.
And that also applies to the consequences of climate change. “We have no choice: we must limit climate change, but we must also work to adapt as best we can to its consequences,” says Aust. This requires far-reaching innovations and “enormously high investments in all areas of the economy and society.” Demographic change also makes modernization of the welfare state “urgently necessary”, further effects come from digitization and geopolitical changes. Europe in particular was challenged by a “competition between the great powers”. However, striving for far-reaching self-sufficiency or decoupling from the global economy and in particular from the Chinese market might not be a suitable option for Germany.
Aust criticized the energy policy of the past decades, but also current developments. “We need a master plan for energy security and energy transition from the federal government. From today’s perspective, it was at least naïve to decide to phase out the most important energy sources without ensuring that the immediate switch to renewable energies would be successful.” For many companies, it is now a matter of survival. 70 percent of Hamburg companies see high energy prices and insufficient supply as an acute threat to their business model. However, measures such as the gas price brake would ignore reality: “For example, if the time of the corona lockdown is used as a reference for the gas price, when many companies were closed or had restricted operations.”
Aust did not speak out directly in favor of the continued use of nuclear power – there had recently been criticism of a statement on this internally – the chamber is in favor of openness to technology. However, he expects “that in this extremely critical situation, all options will be put on the table and examined by experts. Then politicians must decide without ideology and based on purely factual considerations.” The expansion of the energy infrastructure must also be accelerated, as stipulated by the federal government in the coalition agreement: “I appeal to all politicians – including here in the hall: If you If you agree on this question, then do it! Just do it!”
With regard to Hamburg, Aust expressed doubts about the design of the people’s legislation. This could lead to “small and well-organized groups succeeding in asserting their particular interests. However, we need procedures in which the general interest is included in order to adequately consider all consequences for the location,” says Aust. He expressly referred to the example of the popular initiative “No return on land and rent”, to which the SPD and Greens had already promised far-reaching changes to Hamburg’s heritable building law, including an amendment to the Hamburg constitution, even before a possible vote by the people of Hamburg.
Aust sent an appeal directly to Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD). Tschentscher, who is also currently President of the Bundesrat, may fight against the progressive deindustrialization of Germany. “I therefore have a big New Year’s wish for you: Use this political capital for such an initiative against the threat of deindustrialization in Germany!” Aust said literally. Hamburg also needs a local policy for industry that is appropriate to the importance of this branch of the economy, and the president said this with a view to the port: “Every swan song for our port is populist and harmful. There are great future opportunities and great potential for innovation in the port,” says Aust. It is important not only to measure the port in terms of its handling figures, but also in terms of its overall added value for Hamburg as a location. “If the Port of Hamburg wants to survive in the face of intense competition, it also has to work hard on customer orientation and efficiency,” says Aust.
The President also commented on the debate about the deepening of the Elbe – which some considered a failure – and related this debate to the involvement of the Chinese state shipping company Cosco. “The federal government is not fulfilling its obligations and is causing serious damage to the seaward accessibility of our port! I see this as a greater threat to our critical infrastructure than the planned minority stake in the operating company Tollerort.” Addressing the new Economics Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD), he added: “Ms. Leonhard, I wish you the best of luck in solving this responsible task Hand.” And there was also an entry in the specifications for Transport Senator Anjes Tjarks when Aust brought up resident parking in his speech: “In the last few months, we have received countless calls for help from angry entrepreneurs about resident parking. We expect a visible consideration of the interests of the economy”.
According to the statutes, Gunter Mengers said goodbye to the chairmanship of the inviting “Assembly of an Honorable Businessman”. He also addressed “the challenges facing Hamburg’s merchant community: “In view of the rampant irreconcilability in our world, it is one of the outstanding questions where we see or create chances and possibilities in order not to lose courage and hope”. The only sensible thing to do in the current situation is “to seek common ground.”
At the same time, Mengers also addressed the many geopolitical challenges that also affect economic freedom. “Of course, the question arises to what extent the increasing political influence can restrict commercial freedom. The economy must not be politicized. It probably sounds hateful, but if we don’t do the trading, then someone else will, or difficult situations will be forced upon us,” says Mengers. In any case, free entrepreneurship is more difficult to imagine when new rules are constantly being imposed on it. However, the entrepreneur must also actively contribute to society, also with his or her values. Mengers: “One thing is absolutely clear to me. Decency will always be fashionable.”
