Schröder and Chirac vow to continue industrial dialogue

Date: 17/06/04

By Karen Carstens

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder have pledged to foster an ongoingbilateral industrial policy dialogue amid scathing criticism from Frits Bolkestein and mounting frustration from the corporate world.

The internal market commissioner chided both EU governments on Monday (14 June) for their misguided “interventionist” ways, including German pressure on new member states to hike up their corporate tax rates.

Schröder and Chirac on the same day emerged from a meeting in theGerman city of Aachen committed to deepening economic exchange, starting with a gathering of top officials from both sides at a yet-to-be-specified date.

They also said they would invite German and French industrialists to regular informal meetings to enhance cooperation.

But Ernst Schwanhold, the new head of the environment unit at chemicals giant BASF, on a recent stopover in Brussels lambastedGerman ministers' lack of coordination and themixed signals they send toBrussels, which are harmful to business.

He suggested his country's politicians should make more appearances in the EU capital.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Schwanhold had some harsh words for Germany's SocialDemocrat 'superminister' for economics and employment, Wolfgang Clement. His perpetual absence from the Brussels scene sent an “incorrectand catastrophic signal”, said Schwanhold.

“The politicians give off conflicting signals in Brussels in the worstcase, or none at all in the best case.”