DThe German economy is looking for the right way to deal with the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), under the impression of pictures showing milk baron Theo Müller in a convertible next to AfD leader Alice Weidel, has just accused the companies of a poor attitude towards right-wing populists.
Nervousness before the state elections in autumn 2024 in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, where the AfD is ahead in surveys, is increasing not only among political competitors. A survey by the German Economic Institute (IW) among general managers of business associations shows that they see the rise of right-wing populists as a significant risk for the business location. Do companies need to position themselves more strongly to mitigate these risks? And if so, how do you do that?
“We are in a peripheral location here, no one gets lost here,” says Wolfram Kreisel, a fourth-generation family entrepreneur in Krauschwitz in Upper Lusatia. He has been running the company for ten years, and the company celebrated its 111th birthday this summer. “We build small and large machines using bulk material technology for everything that is granular and free-flowing,” says Kreisel, who not only works hard for his company but also for the business location.
IHK representatives see themselves as politically neutral
“This is close to my heart. I am involved in the Lausitz Economic Initiative and in the Presidium of the Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce, in the German Bulk Goods Industry Association and in the VDMA,” he says. The entrepreneur has many points of contact with politics through the association's work. Representatives of the AfD parliamentary group were also there. “We are politically neutral, everyone can come and ask questions,” says Kreisel.
Is that enough? In surveys, the AfD, whose Saxon regional association has just been classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is at the top with 35 percent. In the Görlitz district, where the Kreisel company is based, the party achieved its strongest second vote result in the federal election.
Sociologist Holger Backhaus-Maul believes that holding companies responsible for this is problematic. “Companies are well advised not to position themselves as substitute party political actors,” says the scientist, who researches the interaction between the state and business at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, among other things.
Jenoptik has different needs than other companies
Firewalls like those in politics would not work in business. The interests of the companies are too different. “I can well understand when a company like Jenoptik says that we are dependent on international employees and immigration in Thuringia,” says Backhaus-Maul about the technology group from Jena, which has clearly positioned itself in the political debate.
Elections will also take place in Thuringia on September 1, 2024, and here too the state association of the AfD, which has long been classified as right-wing extremist, is ahead in surveys with a recent 34 percent share of the vote. It is still legitimate for companies not to comment publicly, says Backhaus-Maul. Nevertheless, one can expect a clear commitment to the basic democratic order from every company.
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