Germany’s foreign minister and Social Democrat rival to German Chancellor Angela Merkel says he is in favor of state aid for German automakers, a German Sunday newspaper reported.
The German auto industry is “the spinal cord of our economy,” Steinmeier told the Welt am Sonntag, according to advance copies. It is Germany’s largest industry and biggest export.
“We must also stimulate the purchasing of automobiles with state incentives,” such as a tax break, said Steinmeier, a member of Germany’s “grand coalition” government and expected rival to Merkel in next year’s election.
New car registrations in Germany slumped by 18 percent last month compared with the same month last year, according to the auto manufacturers’ association VDA.
For all of this year, VDA says car sales are expected to hit their lowest level since the reunification of west and east Germany in 1990, at less than 3.1 million vehicles. Sales are expected to be even worse next year.
One out of seven German workers is directly or indirectly involved in the car industry, according to VDA.
The US auto industry dodged almost certain collapse last week when the US government extended US$13.4 billion in loans to cash-strapped General Motors and Chrysler. Merkel, who has been criticized for not doing enough to help Europe’s biggest economy out of recession, has called a cabinet meeting for Jan. 5 to discuss a second stimulus package.
Meanwhile, troubled German property lender Hypo Real Estate is being investigated for possible insider trading, according to the weekly Der Spiegel to be published today.
It said prosecutors in Munich had launched an investigation in February after large sales of shares were registered just before the private bank announced a 35 percent drop in assets.
After a German association of small shareholders filed a complaint, prosecutors in Munich opened an investigation into accusations that Hypo Real Estate (HRE) directors provided insufficient information on the bank’s situation before it required an emergency bailout.
HRE posted a net loss of 3.1 billion euros (US$4.3 billion) in the third quarter, and said a week ago that it expects to report new losses in its fourth quarter and annual results.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
China is deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Ministry of National Defense said today. Speaking in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. China's military has yet to comment and has not confirmed it is carrying out any exercises. "The current scale is
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