Cars in the production plant

© iStock/Traimak_Ivan

Tonight, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier will be continuing a series of meetings with representatives of the working group for economic stimulus action. The objective of this meeting is to devise a strategy setting out measures that can be used to help industries that have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the automotive sector, as they get back on their four wheels. At the same time, the measures are also designed to give a boost to innovative vehicle technologies.

Said Minister Altmaier: “Innovation, sustainability, and fairness – for me, these are the key pillars for a new stimulus package. If we want to emerge from this crisis with fresh vigour, we need to safeguard economic output and jobs and, at the same time, strengthen the automotive industry’s innovative prowess. The goal here is have a joint strategy that gives a quick and effective boost to the automotive sector and also other important economic sectors and that is in line with our climate targets.”

During tonight’s talks, proposals drawn up by the Ministries involved will be discussed with representatives of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the Metalworkers’ Union (IG Metall). On this basis, the working group chaired by Minister Altmaier will put together a strategy paper that will be at the centre of the discussions held at the next “automotive summit”, which will be hosted by Chancellor Merkel in early June.

The high-ranking working group was established following the last “automotive summit” chaired by Chancellor Merkel on 5 May 2020. The working group is made of of representatives of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the Metalworkers’ Union, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and the Federal Chancellery.

As part of its efforts to politically support structural change in the automotive sector, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is also introducing a new “transformation dialogue for the automotive industry”. The focus of the work undertaken in this forum is to be on aspects that are key to a successful transformation of regional automotive clusters, in particular of small and medium-sized suppliers.