then sound in the same place and there are signs that the burial side may have been used for centuries. the 100 falls died out around 40000 years ago. you are up to date with more news for you at the top of the hour. thank you very much for joining us. the words people have to say is too much that's why we listen. because every weekend on d w, the to germany's economy is struggling and one of its key industries, machine building is also facing a summer time. germany turn it around,

all vital pillows of the economy going to be facing long term problems coming in the future. well, trying to be to talk about that is called high skin from the vm, a industry association. thank you very much speaking to my call. how worried are you about the german economy at this time? well, i think if you look at the site to get it fixed, then we are where its, um, our industry has been down and we have production last year by one percent. and forecast for this year is another minus 4 percent. so it is an uncomfortable situation to be in. however, we proceed this more of a site to go a phenomenon and not too much of a structural phenomenon for our industry. so we expect our business to pick up again in the 2nd half of the year. okay, but the economist succeed, cost for them says despite moderate recovery prospect, we must not deceive ourselves. overall, production figures have been slowing,

showing a worrying downward trend for g is, is the, an existential threats to companies in the machine building industry which you represent. i think the interesting structural point is that the success of government industry has it has some pillars which are not really holding anymore. you know, very well that supply from of cheap flip side resources from russia. one of those pillars, an ever growing chinese market for german engineer products, was one of those pillars. and also your pain security being safe, guarded by the us. and a lot of us funding was another one of these pillars. so we see the structural changes in the global framework, and that means which i'm an industry we have to, we think if you're having very energy intensive manufacturing base and trying the needs and you have to, we think it's actually not just tactical. okay. um, i want to come to the list of proposals that you've made earlier this week to

release the statement in order to help the machine industry in germany and not your list of proposals include a reduction of bureaucracy, lower taxes, changing accounting methods. we can call it to encourage companies to invest in new machines, extending weekly, working hours, and pushing banks, the pension level age, and infrastructure investment. that is your coal to government. i assure specifically the government to implement these things. but chancellor schultz has accused certain sectors of the industry of yum of y. yeah. and so it shouldn't, you rather be focusing on what your industry can do most self reflect in the window and stick to do, rather than this long laundry list of things that you hope the government will give you want to see? yeah, yeah, that's a very good question. thank you for this one. you know, if you look at this long laundry list, yes, it's something we ask from from the, from the public sect of, from the, from the government. but it's also,

and the business program for, for our sales, you know, if there was something which is really slowing a drum and industry down its comfort zone. you know, we live in a conference on, on the political 5 as well as society as a whole. we live in a very wealthy society. we live in a very safe society. for whatever reason, germans feel the ukraine is far away and, and also is where they got a far away and everybody remains in his comfort zone. and then we talk about a weekly working out with, you know, in our industry, we have 75 and we keep working out. it's a joke. you know, even in the industries in germany, nobody was even thinking about 75 union. some people work for the elsewhere. that's what the counselors don't think. so the union is that you must have studied 2 hours, you know, and, and that's for me, one of those leading examples. i mean, they'd be live in a comfort zone and i think what, but also the dentist society people living in germany has to learn is that the wind is cold and strong all day. and we are in a global competition. we have to adapt that to that competition, and that means that we have to move out of our comfort zone. and it's true for the

political arena, but it's also true for size site, for society itself and for the companies. okay, but the, there's a practical issue with convincing workings councils or unions or bypassing them in some way, going to government, getting them to change them all. that is a huge hurdle to get over. yes. yes. uh, but you know, if you want to change things, you have to start somewhere and also be talking about another example back in time over over your life spans. and also we keep working time is it is a big issue. it will take a long time to change it, but we have to start somewhere and we are working on it. the same is true for corporate texts, you know, corporate tax rates in germany, extremely high, one of the highest in the world. and that's one of those feedback conditions, you know, if, if you really want to ignite of the economy and texas a key driver and be very poor that. so, do we see politicians right now? we have the courage to tell people at this moment in time, you know what to do with our corporate tax rates. that's a very courageous step to do. and i don't see anyone doing that. however,

you have to start somewhere to argue and to convince people. and let's see a one year down the road. we have an election a little over a year down the road. we have an election germany. let's see what the outcome is. and then you might have to ride setting and that's what we have to prepare today. so that maybe we get into a consolation, but changes happen in the way. it does sound like more of the same complacency that you're complaining about in the sense that this is for industry to pressurize to come and show to do that in the active sense. but otherwise, to wait until the government, so keep, keep them under pressure, you know, keep talking about to keep mentioning it. but what can the industry itself do in order to be more competitive with, let's say china, it's interesting that you are insisting on, on the issue and, and i like that because a, one of those aspects of being at a conference on is that also dr. mann's individuals, as well as

a corporate world and have a trend to rely on the public sector. and to think that both by the way that both intensified and throughout the crew on the crisis. because then governments and public sector really had to intervene to manage the prices and kind of people that, hey, well, this is cool. you know, if i have a problem of the political arena, the government who ever i'm takes care and that is an effective is still see today is i'm also kind of trying to make a wakeup call also to the corporate world. if, if to see is rough, don't ask the government and to slow it down, but do your own job properly. but nevertheless, if you look around here, the holes, a ton of a method, it's the super cool technology show and i think it's, it's proving that engineer and in germany is this still a super cool brand. you will see solutions here that are really looking forward. and i dare say there was nothing nice that in the us know in china that compassed

to this what you see here, technology, why? so companies are facing the future, the coming forward, this product, okay, when it comes to china, let's say, is trying to more of a threat or more of the product as well. um, china has been what i call a tons market for decades. i'll say the company is either way present if i'm not working for the association. uh, have you hendrix, i'm from unit we we, we have a lot of operations in china is one of our most important markets. and that has turn around. i would consider china today to be at risk market. a lot of times market is the major reason being, by the way, not so much the geopolitical effect, but also the current chinese administration nationalizing the industry. and we have seen parts of our industry, constructive hip and is a good example. but international supplies are almost down to 0 because china one's chinese equipment in china. so, what should be done about that?

what does the job you need to do? what does the you need to do? because of course, the worry is if the you, if job is too harsh and to china. yeah, and that's going to take away a lot of opportunities that business have to, that says in europe have to sell into china. i think, you know, and in this context you is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. what as outside of the ones that you have to us a being a getting really tough on china, independent, was abiding. isn't control attempting to control both a tough on china and, and on the other hand, we have so much business going on for a german corporations in china. and we also have supply chains coming from china, which i super important. so you have to find his own role and in its own sales confidence in dealing with china and the level playing field. and what does that look like specifically? yeah, because of course we, he was talked about level playing field with for the, for a long time. yeah, a nevertheless, we've been talking about it, but we've seen the eve a on china and,

and i think it will start to extend. we still are, if you look at chinese legislation in cyber security law into espionage law. these are laws that explicitly prevent for businesses of doing business in china, that fuel we should see a much stronger, more self confident reaction by the you and we have to call to fight a so your storage branch of the german industry. so it's called of small to medium sized businesses, often family owned businesses with strong but not necessarily a known as capitalization. and they've been lagging on digitalization that's been struggles with succession plans or is germany's biggest economic strength, the so called middle stand. also a significant weak point, you know, i don't think so. if you look at the ability to adapt to changing frameworks, then absolutely convinced and,

and all member companies do have attract records in that, that small and medium sized family businesses are faster and more willing to adapt to a change in frame, booked, and large corporations. the ever we have 3600 member companies. the average size is $2250.00 employees only. and 90 percent of these companies have family owned. they have an export rate of 80 percent and average. so you have to imagine a small company, $200.00 people sitting somewhere in the middle of nowhere, being a family owned to export 8 percent of the super nice mich technology. and these people are really flexible. they cannot that they're a fast uh, agent. okay, so they can adopt fos, but can they get the investment money that they might need to? i mean, we talked about a i throughout the messa, it's a huge deal, of course has been for a while, but now we have generativity as well that all of this kind of complex technology which has its own specialize needs. and for mentation requires investment, do middle stand companies as individuals, have the ability to invest at the level that they need in order to be able to

proficiently effectively use the opportunities take advantage of the opportunities, not just with a on but of the new and emerging technologies, 1st of all, yes, we have to state the level of investment in germany has been going down for 4 years and does not enough investment in germany itself at this moment in time. and this is also what the us from the drum and government and, and from politics to improve the frame, grow for investments in germany. so that's number one in the general. it's independent from a i, if you look at a i or as a, let's say, digital technologies and, and you look around here and one of them. and again, i think you'll see a lot of examples with this. technology is applied by large corporations, as well as by small and medium sized businesses. you have to consider we up to a 100 percent in, in to be to be in the business to business here to be not on the consumer side. and many of these business models, when you talk about a i, there's a very popular that people talk about hyper scanning business models on the consumer side. this is not going to do. so the also the capital requirement at to

go into a i and to apply a i, as in an engineer between products is totally different from the consumer side. but why until now has this industry, in fact, i'm an industry in general. let's be honest, not just machine building, but mostly why is it failed to prepare for the future? i wouldn't up the, i would not agree a to this assumption. we know that digitalization of the big issue, we've seen china coming down the road for a long distance ation is a big issue in the public space. you know, if you look at a public administration in germany, yes, we a week on a digit test ation. this is not true for other countries though. if you're looking at this kind of data, if you look into the vatike state, you have leading examples on how to apply a i in a to how to apply big data models in public administration. so germany is not to hold of euro this just a significant part of europe and in the public space. yes, we a week, i would not say that driving the german industry and privately owned the industry

is behind and new technologies. how confident about the future following german industry? yes. okay, cool. he's going thank you very much for speaking to me. thank you. the gemini email villa teeth is on a respond clean track. for the 1st time in hamburg. com batteries will be recycle critical reading materials such as nicole cobalt will be used in a closed loop. environmentally friendly and self sufficient. made in germany next, on the

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