"Politicians, get out of the way!"
<h>How can Europe</h> enhance its competitiveness? Andrew Gowers, editor-in-chief of the Financial Times, talks about the current capitalism debate and the competition "Best of European Business". What is your feeling about the current capitalism debate? The sort of anti-capitalist atmosphere that has sprung up in Germany is extremely worrying. No capitalist will be contemplating about stepping up his investment in a country where they hear senior politicians calling them "locusts". This is damaging not just in the short run. The future of Europe depends on private investment. If people do not accept the profit motive and the idea that managers and investors should make money out of their investments, then this is a poor lookout. Do you think about any persons in particular? It may be controversial but I think that Josef Ackermann is doing a good job at Deutsche Bank in terms of raising shareholder returns and all he gets as a reward for it is abuse from German politicians and the German public. I actually think he is doing the right thing, I would not be surprised if he were to conclude after a certain time that he had enough of that. | ||
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Together with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants you initiated the competition "Best of European Business". What is the idea behind it? We want to highlight that business in Europe is leading the way to creating competitive conditions for the economy. Politics is lagging behind. Thus, our definition of competitiveness is not about winning against another economy. It is about creating the best conditions in which European businesses with all their creativity and ambition can thrive. For this, the diversity of Europe is a strength, and it is a strength that we could make more of. Italian design flair, German engineering, French marketing - all these things can harness great European businesses. | ||
What do politicians need to change to unleash Europe's potential?
There is a very simple phrase for what politicians could do differently to what they do now and that is: Get out of the way. I think the main problem is that politicians in a whole range of European countries think that they can intervene in order to make things better by way of a magic wallet. The problem is that - for example in Germany and France - there is too much government intervention. What we need is creating the conditions in which entrepreneurs can create wealth with the minimum bureaucracy. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us:  |
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