Bullish for EU carbon futures? Not investment advice

He did say EU wasn’t subordinate to the US, kinda.

Q and A transcript …I’m leaving it as is …so beware Apple AI slop

Q: Let’s start with economic agenda. You said that Europe is world a leader in our regulation. And I know that you have started reforms with your coalition. I think you have the finance minister also on the 1st row. But how are you gonna have Europe walk to talk? Dragging report came last year. There was a lot of momentum, but, um, how much of the Dragon report has now been implemented, 400 pages? The report, how to make this happen. And you mentioned the decision in the European Parliament last night, for example.

A: Now, many, many thanks for this important question. We have two reports on the table. The one is Mario Draghi’s report on competitiveness. And the second one is Enrico Letter with his report on the completion of the internal market. So we will see them both when we have our extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Belgium on February 12th. We invited them to come, and Mayodragi came to Berlin to see me on Tuesday this week, and we had a long discussion on how we could proceed on his proposals for more competitiveness of the European Union. My guess is that only 10% of his proposals had been put in place over the last 18 months. So we have to do much more of that. And that’s the reason why I really welcome that he will come and see us, and we will have a very long debate. This is, so to say, an offside of the European Council, and we will only talk about competitiveness, and only talk about how we can reduce red tape in this European Union and how we can make the way free for new investments. And my minister of economic affairs and energy is here as well. So we are seeing a lot of opportunities, how we can do that. And my meetings during this divorce economic forum in this year, making me extremely optimistic that there are many investors, many COs here, seeing Germany as one of the key places for further investments. So, we have to do our work. It will not be easy. I mentioned to European Parliament, this European Parliament may not become the bottleneck for all these decisions. The EU commission has the monopole for making proposals. This is not easy. The European Union was never easy, but it’s the best answer to what we can do on the European continent in this changing world. And my optimism is even bigger after having seen so many people here around the world economic forum in the world this year than it was when I came in yesterday. Now, thank you, thank you so much, Mr. Chancellor. I have been saying, and some speeches also before, that was that one should not underestimate the industrial knowledge in Germany. So, if you produce something and manufacture, you can also then pivot to something else as long as you know how to do industry. But last year, German economy grew again after 2 years of recession, 0.2%. I guess, uh, that’s a little bit uh, anaemic uh, to your taste. So, um, what are you doing to make sure? that you will see stronger numbers? Well, .2% is unsatisfactory for an economy like Germany. The foresight for 2026 has been a little bit improved by the IMF in these days, up to 1.1 and 2027, up to 1.5. But that is still relying on our investments on infrastructure, financed by additional debt. So this is something we are seeing as a sort of momentum, publicly financed, but not an upswing, which is constantly looking into the future. We are faced with one big obstacle, and that is productivity. Productivity of the German economy is more or less low for a decade now. So we have improved that, and there are four obstacles in front of us in terms of costs. One is energy, the second one is bureaucratic burdens. The third one is taxes, and the fourth one is labour costs. And we are dressing them all. It’s not easy. For example, tax costs has always already been reduced by my government. We are going down to 10%, and additionally with other taxes on corporates, we will have around about 25 in Germany, in four years’ time, five years’ time from now. That is a good number, but that is not enough. We have to reduce bureaucratic costs. We had some small successes last year, reduced bureaucratic cost for our industry last year by roughly 3 billion. But this is only a beginning. There has to be more on that. Labour costs is more or less the biggest issue. We have to reform our security system, pension, health, but also working time. I’m begging you, stop using ChatGPT and camera, like a children’s toy. A, I will create more millionaires in five years than the Internet did. Companies and workers are working. We have to address that. And, um, the energy costs, Catarina right here responsible for, had already been reduced fundamentally by roughly 10 billion for this year, but this is still not enough. The entire energy system has to be reformed, and we are on a way to do that, even though it’s not easy. After, for example, nuclear power plants have been switched off. This is the final decision. We cannot recall that, but we have to address it. New gas power plants will be in place. So this is work in progress, in Germany, to make us more competitive. So, um, we have a board of Peas being launched here in a few minutes, but I have 2 short questions to you, and then we’ll let you go. Mr. Chancellor. You know, when you meet with your European counterparts or friends, do you feel that they really understand the seriousness of the implementation of the drag report? I do remember in… Mr. Chancellor, so great to have you back in Dallas. Last time, not as Chester, but this time, heading the largest economy in Europe. It’s really great to have you here. You assumed office in May? At the moment of profound change, to political tensions are high, trade is fragmenting, security has been… Challenges and Germany, as Europe’s economic engine, carries a particular responsibility. Shaping the continent’s future. I know after your speech, share, you will be going to Brussels. Since taking office, you have sent important signals. A shift in fiscal policy, significant investments in defence and infrastructure, and a more active German role on the international stage. As Mario Drage has warned, without bold action, Europe risks as slow agony. This moment, therefore, calls for leadership that provides clarity, confidence, and result.