“It is unwise to categorically rule out the extension of the term”

Berlin Joe Kaeser, longtime Siemens boss, campaigned for the Greens before the general election, but is now disappointed. “It is unwise to categorically rule out an extension of the term,” he says, referring to the party’s nuclear policy. “Otherwise we will stumble from one tactical debate to the next.”

He appreciates the sincerity of Economy Minister Robert Habeck (the Greens). “He can admit mistakes,” he said. But one could argue whether it would be wise to stop oil and gas imports from Russia without an alternative. “Something like this would be unforgivable in business, here you will have to oblige other suppliers first,” said the director, who now chairs the supervisory boards of Daimler Truck and Siemens Energy.

In an interview with Handelsblatt, he also criticized the federal government’s planned energy package as “unsustainable”, considers the plan to phase out coal from 2030 as bogus – and warns of a decline in large-scale industrialization in Germany.