The example of German industry shows us how quickly the wrong political framework can lead to a secular decline that will also drag neighboring regions and their intertwined economies into the abyss. The decision to turn away from cheap Russian gas and at the same time show the export market China the red card will break the neck of German industry. Even the modest upswing of the present can no longer help industry, the heart of the European economy, to get back on its feet.

What is needed is a turnaround in policy, a reduction in bureaucracy, a reduction in fiscal burdens and an energy policy that focuses on openness to technology and free markets rather than on green dirigisme. The era of German industrial dominance has come to an end, labour productivity is shrinking as capital is leaving the country (136 bio. Euro last year). With its departure, german society must also say goodbye to the idea that all social problems can be solved with a fiscal watering can, in which an overgrown welfare state silences people with ever new support services. The volatility that this infantile policy implies will one day take to the streets.