When the seven finance ministers of the leading industrialized countries (G 7) are struggling in an idyllic setting with less edifying issues from Wednesday evening, Carsten Pillath has already had a few rounds of voting behind him. One “call” follows the next. Germany is currently chairing the G7, which is why the working days for the state secretary in the Ministry of Finance are particularly long and the nights are short. Strengthening the powers of resistance in the national economies, which was planned as the central G-7 agenda, recedes into the background. Instead, it’s about Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the consequences. Keywords are energy, hunger, and the debts of poor countries. The focus of the meeting is the financial distress of the government in Kyiv. The country has been at war for two and a half months. It is not only the people who are suffering, but also the economy and thus the state’s income. The contrast could hardly be greater: there, residential buildings, schools, clinics that were shot to pieces, here the event location, the Grandhotel Petersberg with a wonderful view of the slopes of the Siebengebirge and the Rhine.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner brought the economist from Brussels to his side – at a time when Pillath, at 65, was ready for retirement. Since the beginning of the year, the experienced civil servant has accompanied the much younger FDP politician, who is responsible for Europe, international affairs and financial market policy. He was aware that it would not be a leisurely job when he decided to move to Berlin for the last time. The fact that he accepted it has to do with his self-image as a conscientious Prussian civil servant – but also with the fact that Pillath likes to influence and help shape things. One can certify him a mixture of pronounced self-confidence, great curiosity, still present scuffle and a little bit of vanity.
#State #Secretary #Carsten #Pillath #important #Christian #Lindner