In an expert hearing on June 20, 2024, in the Bavarian State Parliament on the topic “Economic and Energy Policy Implications of the Unconstitutional Federal Budget,” subsidies under Germany´s Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) were discussed. Economists from the MIWI Institute and entrepreneurs criticized the debt-financed “green transformation.”
Appointed by the AfD, Dr. Hendrik Hagedorn, economist at the MIWI – Institute for Market Integration and Economic Policy, and Dr. Ulrich van Suntum, Emeritus of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Münster and former Secretary-General of the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR), a regular contributor to the MIWI Institute, participated.
Prof. Dr. Ulrich van Suntum expressed deep concern over the massive state interventions: The excessive subsidies for emissions reduction are inefficient and distort competition. This is also the position of the AfD. Even CSU deputies praised the statement from the MIWI author.
Dr. Hendrik Hagedorn declared all supplementary budgets since 2020 unconstitutional. He called for lower taxes and energy prices, less bureaucracy, and better training for local skilled workers. Michael Blau from the Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria also condemned CO2 pricing and rampant debt.
Other experts, such as Dr. Manfred Gößl, Chairman of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria, warned against unprofitable hydrogen subsidies and the potential relocation of battery production to the USA.
Oskar Lipp, economic policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament, asked about the exodus of skilled workers and companies as well as the bloated state quota. The experts criticised one of the highest rates of taxation and bureaucracy here. In addition, qualifications of foreign skilled workers are only recognised slowly. Van Suntum recalled the record 176,000 companies that had closed, migrated or gone bankrupt in 2023. The government ratio of around 50 per cent is “relatively high” in international comparison.
A majority of the experts at the hearing agreed on the urgent need to return to the Social Market Economy. They reinforced the AfD’s call to end the left-green deindustrialization.
The MIWI Institute provides economic policy advice from a right-wing ordoliberal standpoint, underscoring its critical role in shaping these discussions.
Dr. Hendrik Hagedorn, economist, MIWI Institute.
Dr. Ulrich van Suntum, Emeritus of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Münster and former Secretary-General of the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR).
Oskar Lipp, economic policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament.