Germans hope for next government to turn economy around

DW (English)

In the economically depressed German town of Gelsenkirchen, a retired coal miner thinks the country's economic situation can't get worse, while the CEO of a steel-coating plant has some advice for the next chancellor.

Transcript

00:00Fourth-generation coal miner Klaus-Hertz Manatus is optimistic.

00:06Things are so bad, they can't get worse. They can only get better.

00:11I just believe that our last government did a lot of things wrong,

00:18starting with the industry and energy policies and many other factors.

00:24That's why I'm almost certain that no matter what the new government will do,

00:29it will be possible to get out of this hole,

00:32and that we will manage to create jobs again and to adequately address energy policy issues,

00:37which people can actually afford.

00:40Klaus lives in the western German city of Gelsenkirchen,

00:45once a booming coal town, until the industry declined.

00:49It is now home to Germany's highest unemployment rate.

00:53Shuttered storefronts and apartment buildings.

00:59How to reverse Germany's economic situation will be the main challenge

01:03for the leader of Germany's next government after elections this weekend.

01:08The man being touted as the likely victor is Friedrich Merz,

01:13a member of the Conservative Christian Democratic Union, or CDU.

01:19Merz's public position is that he opposes reforming Germany's debt cap.

01:24But senior party officials have said Merz privately agrees

01:27that Germany may need to make major investments

01:30in defense amid the unpredictability of the U.S. as an ally,

01:34and to help the economy by fixing the energy problem.

01:40The CEO of Zinc, a company that makes coatings for steel,

01:44is one of the many manufacturers who suffered after Germany stopped buying cheap Russian gas,

01:49and one of the few in Gelsenkirchen that has managed to survive until now.

01:56Politicians can support the industry in various ways.

02:00One way would be through deregulation in the areas where there is bureaucracy,

02:04which is no longer suitable to add value.

02:10That's one thing.

02:12The other is, of course, that we need to discuss the further transformation of our energy system

02:17while respecting companies' different needs and their energy requirements.

02:21Here, the state must put the relevant infrastructure at the forefront.

02:28This infrastructure for housing, transport, climate obligations and energy needs

02:33will cost 600 billion euros in the next 10 years,

02:37according to an estimate by the German Economic Institute.

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