Wednesday March 1, 2017 began in Dresden with sightseeing, including a tour of the Frauenkirche followed by a two hour conversation and lunch with Dr. Fritz Jaeckel, Chief of State Chancellery and State Minister for Federal and European Affairs, and Media Policy, and Thomas Horn, Director of International Relations, and Marion Gündel, International Relations Officer. Jason Cowles, Jonathan Old, and Eric Swenson presented the Populism, Migration and Economics memos respectively.
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Introduction Dr. Jaeckel
- Saxony is centrally located in the heart of Europe
- Largest foreigner groups in Saxony are from Poland, Russia, Ukraine; not Turkey as in most other German states
- Saxony spends significantly on education (25% of annual budget), especially in the Dresden region
- High tech is an important industry in Saxony (e.g., semiconductors, cars)
Discussion and Feedback on Memo Recommendations
Populism
- There is a need to find platforms to include broader groups of the population in the discussion, beyond the elites
→ New ways of interaction needed, sister city concept could serve as a platform - Many citizens (especially in rural areas of Saxony) have never met an American personally
→ There is a need to increase exchange in order to foster reflection - The EU has a program for worker exchange, but it does not work very well, a new program for blue collar worker exchange would be beneficial, but needs funding
- The German „Ausbildung“ (vocational training) is a successful concept, it should be made more attractive to internationally-minded people, parts of the curriculum could be in English in order to foster exchange and international internships
- Social media is interesting for government communication, but it needs to be used proactively; Twitter/Facebook are often reactive; „RESI“ is a smart phone app delivering news in a chat format, this could be a good way for government to provide information
- Germany will try to influence the EU’s agenda, but cannot act as a hegemon; election in France will be essential to shape the EU in the coming 10 years
Migration
- Immigration will increase globally due to climate change → global reaction and burden sharing needed
- Migration to Germany continues on a smaller scale after the massive influx of 2015/16 – 250,000 new arrivals expected per year; integration of migrants is key to prevent ideological movements (e.g., Pegida, ISIS)
- The German welfare system attracts immigration, especially by young people as it grants high benefits to the (unemployed) youth vs. old age pensioners (compared with Spain who grant small unemployment benefits and high pensions)
- It is essential to integrate migrants into the workforce; Germany’s overall track record is low despite individual successful examples (e.g., BMW)
- Germany will need more young people in the work force, including migrants – the current decline in unemployment rates is partly due to demographic change; but the current system to regulate migration and integration will not work in the long term; Germany will need an immigration and integration law to steer immigration; this needs to be addressed after the Bundestag elections in the fall
- The EU need to work with countries in Northern Africa, give people a perspective in their home country. Current EU subsidies harm African markets (especially agriculture) and reduce competitiveness
Economics
- The EU and USA agree on shared values on a high level, but it gets difficult when translating values into concrete actions, we currently see „wars“ between the EU commission and US companies
- China negotiates trade agreements with a clear focus on its own benefits; EU and USA need to address China jointly and consistently
- EU suffers from overregulation, EU will look to USA and will follow deregulation in order to stay competitive
- The idea of a trade agreement between the EU and US is still alive but will take years to materialize; the current discussion on TTIP is ideological, it will need a new label in order to succeed
- EU currently has more than 130 trade agreements; trade agreements should not be exclusive, but be open for other countries to join
- Currently no expectation of tax harmonization across countries within EU or with the US, countries see taxes as a source for competitive advantage
- Tax havens can be stopped via legislation against terror financing.
