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By Michael Rothe
Saxony Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK) have an urgent need to speak after the state elections in the Free State of Saxony. The location of the press conference scheduled for Thursday was chosen by chance: the ministerial room of the Maritim Hotel in Dresden, right next to the state parliament. However, the message announced there by the chamber leaders gives the location, once a retreat for MPs and namesakes, a deliberate feel.
"We want to be at the table during the coalition negotiations," Andreas Sperl, President of the Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce, makes clear. The three interest groups representing around 250,000 member companies with over 900,000 employees are very concerned that the interests of the economy could fall by the wayside in what is expected to be a difficult government formation process.
The heads of the main and honorary offices had already met the day before to analyze the election results. In view of the success of the parties on the right and left, the shock is profound. Without the participation of Sahra Wagenknecht's alliance (BSW), it will be impossible to form a government - provided the CDU sticks to its rejection of the AfD.
Chambers skeptical about "blackberry experiment"
The vote is seen as a "warning shot" by entrepreneurs and the IHK presidents. There can and must be no "business as usual", they say. New political players and widely differing programs of potential coalition partners would make it more difficult to form a government. "But especially in times of economic weakness and transformational upheaval, as we are currently experiencing, stable majorities are of paramount importance."
"Saxony has elected a center-right government and is now getting a center-left one," says Max Jankowsky, President of the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He has "stomach pains with the blackberry experiment", i.e. a coalition of CDU, SPD and BSW. The latter is a black box with many question marks, but according to its share of the vote, at least three ministerial posts beckon.
The chambers therefore want to get involved in the discussion about the government program at an early stage, "because the next five years will be decisive in winning back the trust of voters," it says. Teams of entrepreneurs and IHK experts are to actively support the process in order to anchor 15 core demands in the fields of administration, location promotion, skilled workers and education in a coalition agreement.
Chamber of Industry and Commerce proposes new structure for ministries
Andreas Sperl admits that the chambers have no right to a seat at the negotiating table, but he hopes that the parties will make concessions. Saxony's economy, which is growing successfully on its own, radiates confidence and remains loyal to its location, needs a strong vision, which a new government must develop and make a binding guideline.
"It wasn't all bad," says Corinne Ziege, Vice President of the Leipzig Chamber of Industry and Commerce, looking back on the last legislative period and citing broadband expansion, a stable budget, an increased employment rate, improvements in local public transport and the fact that Saxony is now a leading microelectronics location.
In order to give economic issues more weight, the chambers are calling for a new structure - for example, for the area of employment to be transferred to the Ministry of Social Affairs. "So far, the minister has been sitting on both sides of the table when it comes to this topic," says Lukas Rohleder, head of Dresden's Chamber of Industry and Commerce. If the focus is really on the economy, it doesn't matter who is in charge of the ministry.
Saxony's business lobby hopes that "in the huge balancing act between the parties, what counts is stability and not party affiliation", as Jankowsky puts it. And that entrepreneurship will be valued.
The chambers' demands at a glance
- 15 percent staff reduction in the state's public administration;
- lean procurement law without ideological ballast;
- Liberalize opening hours on Sundays and public holidays;
- a new strategic investment instrument;
- Paradigm shift in the funding landscape;
- Promoting young entrepreneurs;
- make rural areas worth living in;
- coordinated expansion of the energy infrastructure;
- Further develop transport infrastructure;
- Increase domestic employment potential - halve the number of benefit recipients;
- Link stay in the country to job;
- Expand childcare to increase the employment rate;
- Reduce the shortage of teachers and the loss of teaching hours at schools;
- Improve STEM skills;
- Increasing the attractiveness of dual training.
