2024-03-15 10:40:19
Elon Musk can afford to play hide-and-seek with the press during his visit to Grünheide. Politics is also to blame for this – but there is a way out.
Elon Musk’s eagerly awaited visit to the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide turned out to be a game of hide-and-seek from the public. There are many questions for the Tesla boss. The electric car manufacturer is being criticized for controversial expansion plans for its factory in Brandenburg.
But the numerous journalists who gathered in front of the factory in Grünheide on Wednesday didn’t get a chance to ask Musk a single question. His behavior is even understandable: he has long been so powerful that he doesn’t need any publicity. He believes he is accountable to no one. And that is also the fault of politics.
Musk has almost unlimited access to the world’s most important resource: money. The third richest person in the world can make investments that are usually the case with countries. But while the federal government has to face the population in elections every four years, Musk is only beholden to a handful of shareholders in his company.
This makes it all the more important that politics provides a framework. Because Musk’s investments in Grünheide also affect the common good. 170,000 people here are worried about their water supply: the factory uses huge amounts of the region’s scarce resource. There are always disputes because Tesla exceeds pollutant limits in wastewater. And now Musk wants to clear another 100 hectares of forest for the planned expansion of the already huge factory area.
Musk also needs Grünheide
Even when the factory was approved, there were concerns that procedures had been shortened in order to make the location attractive to Musk. Resistance from environmental activists and the population because of the feared consequences for groundwater fell into disuse. The advantages for the business location seemed too great. 10,000 jobs in a structurally weak area and millions of euros in trade tax revenue per year, who should resist that?
And it’s also true: Tesla is a win for Germany, where local car manufacturers have missed the mobility transition. Where someone like Musk is needed to courageously advance future technologies.
He just has to realize that he needs support for this. It’s not enough to meet with Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) in the back room, which is convenient for him. Just like he did on Wednesday. Far from any critical questions.
The time for political favors should now be over for Musk at the latest. The factory is closed and he can’t easily leave again. Musk also needs Grünheide.
Fortunately, there is a way to make it clear to him that he has to take the population’s concerns seriously in the future: the tipping point is the 22 community representatives of Grünheide, who will soon have to decide on Tesla’s expansion plans. In a survey, residents clearly spoke out against the plans. Community leaders should listen to their citizens. Only then could Musk understand that he cannot simply do as he pleases. Because Musk won’t change on his own.