In good Bavarian, that was "a echte Watschn." In the Ruhr area, it would be said "voll auf die Zwölf" – that’s the best way to describe what the Saarland Chamber of Commerce says about the framework conditions in Saarland: "Politics represents the greatest risk!" Rarely has the federal and especially the state government been given a worse report card.
Angelika Hießerich-Peter, the chairwoman of the Saar FDP, does not shake her head in disbelief at this harsh assessment from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, but states: “The Saar FDP has been warning for years about precisely this not only perceived but actual strangulation of the economy, from sole proprietors to internationally operating industrial companies. Over-bureaucratization with pointless reporting obligations; laws that do not create jobs but destroy them. An infrastructure that is based on ideological dreams rather than economic necessities has become typical for Saarland.” The magnitude of the concerns in the region was demonstrated last week by the Pro-Steel demonstration in Völklingen, where 12,000 people from all walks of life publicly voiced their worries – in this case, directed at the federal government.
That now even the middle class is starting to resign is a stark warning signal for the FDP Saar. The craft business cannot relocate its ’shop’ to a country with less bureaucracy; it simply shuts down. It is telling that it is not the labor costs, which go directly to the employees, that worry the economy, but the bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake.
Hießerich-Peter poses the crucial question for the FDP Saar: “When will Saarland politics learn that every new job in the public sector generates zero point zero value creation? As the FDP, we advocate for radical deregulation; only then does Saarland have a chance. A state quota of 51% is no advertisement for innovation and commitment. Otto Graf Lambsdorff would have called it socialism!”
