2024-09-02 16:58:31
The AfD was able to achieve strong results in the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony. Business owners and associations now fear a difficult situation for the economy.
In the state elections, the AfD was able to improve its results significantly in some cases. In Saxony, the party came in less than two percentage points behind the CDU. In Thuringia, the AfD even became the strongest force by far.
This is causing uncertainty in the economy – especially with regard to future investments and the immigration of urgently needed skilled workers from abroad. Economist Monika Schnitzler said with reference to the AfD’s election success: “Rejecting skilled immigration sends the wrong signal at this point, because it will prevent skilled workers from considering these federal states as an option.” Thuringia and Saxony have lost around a fifth of their population since reunification.
Some districts are likely to lose a further 20 to 30 percent of their working population in the coming years. “Company succession would be made more difficult, and this could potentially lead to companies going out of business,” continued the chairwoman of the Council of Experts.
The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, also believes it is likely that companies and employees could move away as a result of the election results. “Young, well-qualified and highly motivated citizens in particular will leave the two federal states and go to places where they experience more openness and appreciation,” said the economist. “This is likely to result in an increase in bankruptcies and an exodus of companies.”
Although it is unlikely that the AfD will enter a state government in Thuringia and Saxony, the right-wing populists’ strong election results are fueling fears among parts of the population.
Embed
This could also become a problem for the prestige projects that have just begun in the east. Several chip factories are currently being built with billions in federal support. You can read more about this here. But the digital association Bitkom feared that the strong election results of the AfD and BSW would prevent important immigration. “We will not be able to operate the planned semiconductor factories in Saxony without skilled workers from abroad,” said Wintergerst. “Such top employees can freely choose where they work,” said association president Ralf Wintergerst.
These concerns did not just arise on last election Sunday. Even before the state elections, various business associations and individual entrepreneurs had positioned themselves against the far-right. Reinhold Würth from the screw manufacturer Würth was particularly prominent in taking a stand against the AfD. Even before the European elections, he addressed a circular to 25,000 of his employees: “Making a fuss just for the sake of fun and voting for the AfD out of displeasure with the traffic light government is simply not enough,” it said.
A few months later, he reported in an interview with the “Handelsblatt” that his comments had brought him a lot of support, but had not paid off financially. “We lost around 1.5 million euros in sales as a result,” said Würth. As an entrepreneur, opposing the AfD, especially when it is currently receiving so much support, can also lead to problems.
However, these prospects did not deter many companies. In mid-August, Timm Middelsten Scheid, co-owner of Thermomix and Kobold manufacturer Vorwerk, launched the “Made in Germany, Made by Diversity” campaign. Within just two weeks, over 80 companies joined his cause.
Much to the annoyance of the AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke. He described the campaign as “pure hypocrisy”, wished the companies “serious, serious economic turbulence” and recommended that they “just shut up when it comes to politics”. He later clarified that he meant the leading companies Vorwerk, Miele and Stihl. Together, these three companies have over 50,000 employees in Germany.