Last Friday, at the CNH Industrial Experience Center at the tractor factory in St. Austria, An Industrial Forum was held in Velentin, the main guest of which was EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Entrepreneurs from Austria, including tractor manufacturers, wondered what to do to ensure that Europe remains competitive on the market.
The invitation to a meeting at the factory where Steyr, Case IH and New Holland tractors are manufactured, announced a conversation between managers from the largest enterprises in Austria and the Commissioner for Budget and Administration in the European Union. And the topic was to be the European industry, which was once the world’s leader. Unfortunately, at the moment, factories on our continent do not know what the future holds for them. In addition, more and more production plants close their doors and many jobs are eliminated. There is also a lack of new investments that go outside Europe or to countries where production can continue much cheaper due to lower environmental and social standards.
How can we strengthen Europe as an industrial location and restore its global competitiveness? The fairy tale of eternal prosperity without efficiency will remain a fairy tale, say the meeting organizers.
Fewer tractors from St. Valentine
On the occasion of the first joint industrial forum of the industrial associations of Upper and Lower Austria, one of the first to speak was the host, Hannes Wögerbauer, plant manager in St. Valentine:
– This year we will only build about 8,000. Steyr, Case and New Holland tractors instead of 10,000. pcs. – said the CNH representative.
In recent years, production has amounted to approximately 10,000. pcs of vehicles, and annual sales exceeded one billion euros. The future of the machinery market in Europe does not look bright and it is not known how quickly the market will return to normal, and farmers’ problems are also producers’ problems.
We should strive to increase efficiency, not reduce working time
– In light of accelerated deindustrialization, it is important that we finally make a clear commitment to increase productivity. Instead of reducing working hours, there is an urgent need to discuss a 41-hour working week. Only in this way can we maintain the quality of life and prosperity and compete internationally, emphasized Kari Ochsner, heat pump manufacturer from Ochsner Wärmepumpen GmbH.
Stefan Pierer from KTM (a manufacturer of motorcycles and quads) also had a similar opinion. Both managers are even calling for the introduction of a 41-hour work week, which could mitigate the increase in wage costs from 2023.
Ochsner and Pierer, who represent as many as 300,000 people in the industrial associations of Lower and Upper Austria. jobs in Austria, stressed that factory jobs were under serious threat. Other parts of the world are quickly catching up, and as a result, the European economy is becoming less and less important (currently only 17% of global economic output). Countries such as China and the USA have been out of reach for a long time, but India and Brazil are already on track to overtake Europe. Pierer is sure that “economic collapse in Europe” is already visible, which will lead to a decline in prosperity and quality of life on our continent.
– We should exempt overtime from payroll tax and social costs, so that more money remains from wages for those who want to work more – added the EU commissioner.
It cannot be denied that this approach to the matter may cause considerable controversy in European societies that want to shorten the working week. Ochsner came to the support of this thesis and said that there was really no alternative to a 41-hour working week, saying “We must put an end to the fact that, according to the law in Europe, we work less and less, while the whole world works more and more.”
According to an Austrian manager, research showing that people expect a shorter working week for the same pay is not surprising. Ochsner said the question might as well have been who was in favor of free beer – “the majority would probably be too.”
Moreover, Ochsner does not want to pay more for those 41 hours a week, saying: “The pension system will not be secure if we have fewer and fewer people in the labor market who work even less.”
The outgoing EU commissioner, Johannes Hahn, was not so strict in his opinions, but noted that: “anyone who works 60 hours instead of 40 should earn more than 50 percent.” more”.
The European Union is the master of bureaucracy
The interlocutors did not deny that bureaucracy in Europe had expanded to exorbitant proportions. Even Commissioner Hahn emphasized this. According to him, Brussels is often perceived as synonymous with excessive bureaucracy, and this is true. On the other hand, “regulation mania” is a consequence of the expectations of European society, which wants to regulate everything in a completely different way than other nations in the world.
– In Europe, the joy of achieved results is often torpedoed by excessive bureaucracy. This is not only expensive for us, entrepreneurs, but also demotivating for our employees. Bureaucracy stands in the way of greater achievements and weakens the motivation to act, Ochsner noted.
Hahn, Pierer and Ochsner agreed that Austria in particular is something of a world champion in regulatory mania.
– The deputy mayor of Bogota, a city of 12 million inhabitants, still did not believe me after two hours that in Austria, with a population of 9 million, we have a federal government with its own government, nine states, each with its own government and, on top of that, a hundred different systems collective – Ochsner emphasized.
The interlocutors emphasized that in the face of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament, the EU must continue to be relevant in global competition, but this means that we must act more consistently and more unanimously than in the past.
Źródła informacji: Lower Austrian News, Bavarian Agricultural Weekly