EES General Meeting and EES Economic Talks in Munich (GER), July 23, 2021
EES General Meeting 2021 and EES Economic Talks Munich |
Greeting and Welcome Dr Ingo Friedrich, EES-President
"You only know what you had once it's gone," is an old saying that quite befits our situation in the European Economic Senate (EES) as well as all personal interactions. For more than a year all personal contacts - even in the private sphere - have been severely restricted or not permissible at all. Nobody would have thought this could happen like that. Although we find ourselves in the most highly developed level in human history, a tiny little virus was able to shut it all down and point out personal and economic limits to us. Limits to our security of supply of goods and services, limits of our health systems as well as dependencies of some countries when it comes to production and supply chains, and weaknesses in global cooperation.
But there is something else that the crisis clearly showed: Countries like Germany with its high budgetary discipline and focus on market economy, with stable political conditions and functioning administrations, got through the Corona pandemic significantly better than other countries that are now faced with massive economic problems.
It will now be important to learn from the Corona pandemic and lay down the right tracks in order to make people and especially enterprises fit for the future. Part of this is a clear commitment to the social market economy and its basic principles: Subsidiarity and solidarity.
Our EES Economic Talks following the general meeting were under the motto: "Growth and Prosperity for All - Renaissance of Values". There is probably not a more befitting description for the challenges we are faced with. The key note was held by none other than Joe KAESER, Advisory Board Chair of the Siemens Energy AG and former Chairman of the Siemens AG.
We of the European Economic Senate meet our responsibility for the country and society, and want to offer up our experience and present an opportunity to our participating guests to have an exchange at the highest level in order to bring practical solutions into the political discussion based on this dialogue.
Our dinner speaker was Deputy Secretary General, Tobias WINKLER, Head of the Munich Liaison Office for the European Parliament, who talked to us about the topic "Germany's Future: A new TIME, a new BALANCE". We are delighted that he was appointed direct candidate of the CSU in his constituency for the German parliamentary election 2021. We have known each other for over 15 years and esteem each other highly. When I was Vice President of the European Parliament, he was my office manager. He has since had a stellar career which is now about to enter into the next stage.
I am sure that his path of success will not end with his election into the German Parliament, and I am delighted that - if he wins this election, which I very much hope -
one politician more with entrepreneurial expertise will sit in parliament. Because for him, social market economy and economic ethics do not constitute threats or foreign words, but are the basis for growth and prosperity.
The fact that we got through Corona so well is due to the constructive and future-oriented cooperation of all functionaries. For example, we were able to offer to our members a new digital format in the form of our "EES Live" meetings, so we could stay in contact and communication with each other in spite of the prohibition of personal meetings.
Therefore, I would like to close with a big thank you for the good cooperation!
First of all, I would like to thank my two colleagues on the Board, the Vice President, Daniel Bercel (Slovakia) and Dr Malte Berlin (Austria).
Further, I would like to thank the EES Supervisory Board, namely the Chair, Rolf von Hohenhau, his Deputy, Hans Podiuk, as well as the Supervisory Board Members, Mahi Degenring, Thomas Kroder and Wulf Meier.
I would like to offer a special thank you to our Honorary Secretary General, Wolfgang Franken. He is the person who got everything off and running back in 2003 and thus formed the foundation for our current EES.
In order to not lose this knowledge for the European Economic Senate and also in order to honour the performance of long-term functionaries and honorary senators, we have decided to establish a Board of Trustees of the EES. But more on this during the event.
And I would like to close with a big thank you to our CEO, Michael Jäger and our Office Manager, Andreas Fasching, our Press Officer, Rudolf Maier, and the entire team of the EES.
Impressions
Joe KAESER, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Siemens Energy AG, former Chairman of the Board Siemens AG |
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(from left) EES-President Dr Ingo Friedrich, EES-Chairman Rolf von Hohenhau, Joe Kaeser, EWS-CEO Michael Jaeger and Taxpayers' President Reiner Holznagel |
Dinner Speaker Tobias WINKLER Head of the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Munich |
EES Economy Senator Nomination
(from left) Rolf von Hohenhau, Economy Senator Kurt Sigl, Dr Ingo Friedrich and Michael Jaeger |
You can find more pictures in the picture gallery in the members area.