Gastkommentar: Schluss mit dem Stillstand – so wird Deutschland wieder stark

In the Federal Government's cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the focus was once again on the competitiveness of the German economy. Competitiveness of an economy means utilizing available resources, particularly labor and capital, productively to achieve growing prosperity. The obstacles to greater competitiveness in Germany are well-known: high energy prices, increasing taxes and social security contributions, technological backwardness, especially in digitalization and artificial intelligence, and stifling regulations and bureaucratic burdens.

Simultaneously, the geopolitical environment is deteriorating, increasing economic uncertainty and necessitating higher defense expenditures. In this context, economic strength becomes even more crucial.

So what can the government do? It is urgently necessary not only to discuss competitiveness, but to take action. There are five points that the government should address. First, energy costs must decrease and more energy supply is needed. This is not about subsidizing electricity or gas for industry. An industrial electricity price can help in the short term, but ultimately it only distributes the national economic costs of energy supply, instead of reducing them.