BERLIN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said he wanted to "create the right framework conditions" for a more innovative and competitive German and European economy at the opening of a congress on Germany's national industrial strategy on Monday, according to a press release of the economy ministry.
"With the draft industrial strategy I have set in motion a discussion on industrial policy in Germany and Europe, which will culminate in a national and European industrial strategy," said the minister.
Altmaier has advocated a more active state industrial policy in his National Industrial Strategy 2030, which he presented in February.
In order to prevent undesirable takeovers by foreign investors, the German minister wants it to be possible for the German state to participate in companies, even "if only for a limited period of time".
The German Federation of Industries (BDI) has criticized this approach and called on the federal government to change its course.
"State investment control must not become a means of industrial policy" in Germany, said BDI president Dieter Kempf.
The German government should "finally take a comprehensive approach to the locational disadvantages and securing the competitiveness of Germany as an industrial location," said Kempf.
Kempf criticized that German energy prices were too high, there was "too much bureaucracy", German infrastructure was "sluggish in its expansion" and tax policies were "harmful".
Kempf stated that instead, "an effective industrial strategy must focus on the competitiveness of the entire industry".
Germany's largest trade union, IG Metall, has welcomed the minister's industrial strategy. IG Metall chairman Joerg Hofmann said that an "active industrial policy" was necessary to shape digital change in Germany.
At the congress on the National Industrial Strategy 2030 on Monday, around 70 representatives from German industry and trade associations, companies, trade unions and politics discussed the priorities and concrete measures of Germany's industrial strategy.
