At the parliamentary evening of the furniture industry in Berlin this week, the association members called on politicians to take rapid measures to strengthen the demand for construction. The focus of the exchange with members of the Bundestag – including Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) and Frank Schäffler (FDP) – in the German Parliamentary Society was the negative effects that the faltering housing construction has on the furniture industry.
Discussion at the Parliamentary Evening (from left to right): VDM President Leo Lübke, Frank Schäffler (FDP), Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) and VDM Managing Director Jan Kurth.
Leo Lübke, President of the Association of the German Furniture Industry (VDM), and Managing Director Jan Kurth drew attention to the effects of the lack of affordable housing. This not only contains social explosives, but also burdens the entire value chain up to the furniture industry.
'Proposals for boosting housing construction are on the table, now action must be taken fast. More construction must definitely be done again very quickly,' Lübke demanded. The topic definitely belongs in the election campaign of the parties that is now beginning. 'We need concepts and a bundling of funding. Anything that can now be pushed in the short term will help people and companies,' said Lübke.
In addition, approaches to a real growth agenda – a kind of Agenda 2025 – are needed to brighten the mood among companies and consumers again. Not legislative regulation, but self-responsible and entrepreneurial action in a secure framework, which perhaps does not regulate every detail, no matter how improbable, must again gain priority.
'For the German economy, reliable framework conditions and planning security are most important,' said CDU member of the Bundestag Ralph Brinkhaus. In the future federal government, all ministries would have to pull together more strongly again, for example on the subject of construction. Frank Schäffler (FDP) called for the idea of the social market economy to be put back in the foreground. 'We should activate the growth forces in our country more strongly.'
Meanwhile, Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at the Ifo Institute, gave little hope for a rapid upswing in housing construction in his presentation at the subsequent VDM general meeting. 'Loan interest rates have passed their peak. Nevertheless, the crisis in construction will continue for a while.' In the latest Ifo business survey, every second company complained about a lack of orders.
'Overall, Germany is suffering from the high level of economic policy uncertainty, too little corporate investment, declining competitiveness and consumer reluctance to buy,' Wohlrabe noted. The furniture industry also continues to find itself in difficult economic waters. Despite the uncertainty caused by Trump's election victory and the end of the traffic light, however, there is hope for a continuation of the recovery in consumer sentiment. 'The money for new acquisitions is certainly available. People have not spent their real wage increases so far, but instead saved more.'
More information:
Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie
[email protected]
www.moebelindustrie.de