BERLIN (MNI) – The weak euro is not a key factor for Germany’s
export success, German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle said
Thursday.
“I don’t think this is the decisive point,” Bruederle said at a
joint press conference with EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.
Germany’s export success is not mainly dependent on its price
competitiveness but rather on the quality of its products, its advanced
technologies and good service, the minister reckoned.
Bruederle warned that due to high global unemployment there exists
“a danger of rising protectionist tendencies in the world.”
De Gucht assured that the European Commission was “very attentive”
to any rise of protectionism and would take action if needed. However,
there is currently no surge of protectionism underway, he stated.
Bruederle again dismissed criticism from other Eurozone member
states that Germany is too reliant on its export sector. He noted that
German export goods include many components imported from other Eurozone
countries.
“Thus, our neighbors also profit from the German export success,”
he stressed. He advised fellow Eurozone countries to undertake the same
structural reforms that Germany has done. “Then they will also be
successful,” Bruederle reckoned.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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