Economy on the limit: Structural crisis threatens Lower Rhine locations!

The exchange between politics and business is the focus of the "Düsseldorf alliance for the Lower Rhine", which was recently founded in order to improve the location conditions of the economy in the region across fraction. Elmar Te New, President of the Middle Lower Rhine IHK, emphasizes the need to regularly discuss current challenges of the economy in order to achieve synergetic effects.

te new criticizes that the economy currently does not perceive positive impulses from home or from abroad. The progress in infrastructure projects and the reduction in bureaucracy is too slow. Despite a tense order situation, many medium -sized companies refrain from layoffs, which indicates a shortage of skilled workers. The planned job cuts at large companies make the dwindling competitiveness visible to politics and demand quick action.

infrastructure projects and reduction in bureaucracy

Special concerns two important infrastructure projects: the replacement of the dilapidated Rheinbrücke between Krefeld and Duisburg as well as the Cardinal Frings Bridge between Düsseldorf and Neuss, both of which operate with weight restrictions. While the Uerdinger Rheinbrücke is only allowed to carry 30 tons, the limitation for the Cardinal Frings Bridge is only 7.5 tons. The IHK Vice President Dr. Claus Schwenzer warns of a continuous loss of competitiveness.

The IHK Presidium and Member of the Landtag have the goal of winning the NRW Transport Minister and the Prime Minister for faster replacement buildings. Jürgen Steinmetz, general manager of the IHK, calls for an optimization of the approval processes and a priority setting in order to advance the reduction in bureaucracy. A new de-bureaucratization and acceleration package of the state government provides for reducing reporting obligations and accelerating the approval procedures. Nevertheless, Steinmetz expresses doubts about the implementation of the desired changes.

politicians and entrepreneurs emphasize that an efficient working method of employees in the district governments is essential in order to create the necessary relief. In an agreement, it was decided to continue to replace specific simplifications in the procedure. This problem is supplemented by the challenges that German companies face, such as high energy prices, shortage of skilled workers and growing bureaucracy, such as FOCUS.de

The shortage of skilled workers is increased in particular by demographic change and leads to considerable personnel bottlenecks in many industries. Companies also complain of high energy costs, which have grown through the Ukraine conflict and the conversion to CO2-neutral energy supply. These factors, coupled with falling productivity in Germany and the EU, have a noticeable impact on the competitiveness of the German economy.