Attention, rip -off arriving from the award -winning company European Union and German industry. Remember Diesel Gate? German problem made to pay to all Europeans with an inexorable start of the destruction of the car sector? Well, here is the new intention of the commission: making less cars in Germany – it is not difficult, now – and more weapons, but with our savings, to try to set the locomotive of the German industry in motion. This is the proposal of the main group of the Berlin Defense Industry: according to the federal association of the Germanic industry for security and defense (BDSV) it is necessary to continue to drastically expand the defense budget as also suggested also by the EU President Ursula von del Leyen. All to overcome the so -called “bottlenecks” of production, involving plants so far intended for the automotive sector.
In practice, the defense industry tries to inject the same type of urgency in military production who animated the German leaders when he was to replace Russian gas in the country’s energy mix, after Moscow’s war against Ukraine. In Brussels they therefore think of using each system, feeding it also with private capital, to find money to be spent in the construction of weapons, raising first of all the German industry that arranges, and hiding the whole operation under the name of Rearm Europe, the plan that could channel over 800 billion euros towards the expenditure for the defense in the 27 Member States of the Union. However, redirecting the German automotive sector to produce tanks, bullets and other military equipment is not a new idea. In June 2024 the giant of the car continental spare parts and the Rheinmetall weapons giant had signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the redevelopment of the workers of the automotive workers affected by layoffs due to the contraction of the sector. “The changes of vast brought to all sectors can only be managed together,” said Ariane Reinhart, a member of the board of directors of Continental for human resources and sustainability.
In the meantime, Rheinmetall has exulted for the boom in the defense sector in a joint press release And he hastened to emphasize that the company expected 40% more profits in 2024 compared to a year earlier. In short: our money but useful for them. The agreement outlined various means to recruit qualified workers by organizing events at the car establishments and offering work at the defense factories that are located near offices that were closing or reducing their production dimensions. Not surprisingly, last month, the defense giant announced that he would convert two factories to Berlin and Neuss who previously produced parts of cars to produce military goods mainly. In the first nine months of 2024 Rheinmetall’s operational profit in its weapons segment almost doubled reaching 339 million euros (368 million dollars), while its automotive activity decreased by 3.8% to 74 million euros (80 million dollars).
Other defense actors are also pursuing the same road, With the Hensoldt Sensor specialist who would be about to hire 200 workers from Autocontinental and Bosch spare parts suppliers, at least according to Reuters. The Joint Venture Franco-German KNDS has recently acquired a historic factory of railway wagons in Görlitz by the French train manufacturer Alstom, a factory that will be re-emerged to produce components for military vehicles including the Leopard 2 combat tank and the Puma combat vehicle for infantry. So Hans Christoph Atzpodien, head of the group of lobby of the German defense industry, said that “completely new dimensions to the question of the demand for weapons”, including the need for faster deliveries and not only of greater volumes. But to do this, the German government should support the transition by providing the means for redevelopment and covering the costs for the transfer of employees. In the meantime, other sectors of the economy are thrilling to obtain a slice of the cake, such as the mechanical, steel industry and constructions. Aiming to find economic resources from other sectors – and here there is also private savings, to which he has clearly alluded to the Von del Leyen – which will now be exploited for the armaments.
