Given the Crisis at Volkswagen High-ranking politicians from the traffic light coalition are calling for more help from Brussels. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen must “quickly present an ambitious industrial strategy that strengthens European competitiveness in international comparison,” said SPD leader Lars Klingbeil the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Monday edition). “Europe must be able to keep up with international developments and Ms von der Leyen must now take the lead in this,” he added.
The FDP also sees the EU Commission as having a duty. “The reason for this crisis is the absurd European policy that is putting countless obstacles in the way of car manufacturers,” said FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr The state can help VW “best by ensuring that the Fleet regulation is abolishedUltimately, this EU requirement leads to “insane bureaucracy” but does not save “a single gram of CO2”.
“We will work towards this at European level,” announced Dürr. “Only with technological openness can we help companies like VW.”
Volkswagen announced tougher austerity measures
The management of the core brand VW of the Volkswagen Group announced on Monday last week that announced tougher austerity measures, including plant closures and redundancies no longer ruled out. VW boss Oliver Blume cited the difficult situation on the European car market and the deteriorating competitiveness of German production sites as reasons.
Critics accuse VW management of investing too late and too little in electromobility and, as a result, being left behind by the competition in the important sales market of China, for example.
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that VW works council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo will join the SPD presidium meeting digitally on Monday. The SPD employee representative is attracting great interest with her fight against the cutback plans at Germany’s largest carmaker. (AFP)
