Frankfurt/Brussels - 15.04.2020 – Thilo Brodtmann, Executive Director of VDMA, comments the plans of the German Federal Government and the EU for further action in the corona crisis:

"The German mechanical and plant engineering industry supports the decisions made so far by the German Chancellor and the Prime Ministers. In recent weeks and months, the companies in the mechanical engineering sector have taken great care to keep production running. Production is not a place of particular risk of infection.

It is absolutely essential for us that in future all measures are not only decided by consensus but also implemented in a completely uniform manner. Unfortunately, the practical application of adopted measures differs completely from one federal state to another, and in some cases even from one municipality to another. This applies in particular to quarantine rules for persons entering Germany for professional reasons or returning from an assignment abroad. There must be a smooth, uniform European procedure here. We register the interruptions in the cross-border supply chains with the greatest concern! A particular challenge in this context is the situation in Italy, but also in other affected countries.

More solidarity with Europe would help to maintain the functioning of the German economy. We therefore welcome the fact that the EU Commission wants to take the reins of action with the roadmap for better coordination of the exit strategies of the EU Member States, which was also adopted today. It is right that the Commission is urging Member States to reopen borders with neighbouring Member States as soon as the epidemiological situation of neighbouring regions has become more similar. It would be fatal for the internal market and, above all, for industry if Member States were now to relax their measures internally, but at the same time create national islands with closed borders."

A photo of Thilo Brodtmann, Executive Director of VDMA, can be found here.

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The VDMA represents more than 3300 companies in the medium-sized mechanical and plant engineering sector. With a good 1.3 million employees in Germany and a turnover of 230 billion euros (2019), the sector is the largest industrial employer and one of the leading German industrial sectors overall.