Michael Clauß has been Germany's Permanent Representative to the EU in Brussels since 2018. In his interview with BDI, he gives an insight into his work, explains what distinguishes the Permanent Representation in Brussels from other representations and what challenges he sees facing German industry.

The turning point in Europe is also and especially a turning point for European spaceflight. What has so far been little realized politically and in the media has serious consequences: Europe is currently in danger of losing its independent access to space – at least temporarily.

The European Union Commission presented several important initiatives to strengthen defence and security in the EU in February 2022 with the Contribution to European Defence (Defence Package II). In light of the war in Ukraine and other threats to the continent, the measures are long overdue.

Supply-side bottlenecks and disruptions in global supply chains are currently one of the biggest macroeconomic challenges. The German industry is severely affected due to its high degree of global interconnectedness. In 2021, bottleneck-induced value-added losses in the industrial sector were estimated to exceed 50 billion euros. Similar effects are expected in 2022.

The Italian B20 presidency of 2021 concentrated on “including, sharing and acting” to recover from the pandemic, to reduce fossil fuel emissions and to create a level playing field in several policy areas. The B20 summit offered the presidency the chance to directly introduce these recommendations to the Italian government.

An international agreement for a fundamental reform of the global tax system for business profits is expected by mid-2021. It is therefore even less understandable that the European Commission is currently envisaging to put forward a proposal for a digital levy. The recent US proposals clearly demonstrate that it would be important to pursue all efforts to reach an international agreement instead of taking unilateral action.

The European Union should renounce the donor-recipient relationship with the African continent and instead cooperate at eye level. These are the demands in a report which was adopted by a majority of the European Parliament at the end of March 2021. Plans for a „strategic partnership“ between the EU and the African Union (AU), originally to be completed by 2020, were stalled last year by the Corona-crisis.

China was the first country to escape the vortex of the COVID pandemic. Beijing reported positive economic figures again in the second quarter. The Chinese economy could even close the year with growth of around two percent. German and European companies in the country are also gaining new hope. However, cooperation between the EU and the world's second largest economy is increasingly complicated by growing conflicts of interest and political factors.

The EU started negotiations for a trade agreement with Mercosur two decades ago. The German industry would welcome a quick ratification of this forward-looking agreement. Europe could conclude one of the first free trade agreements (FTA) with the South American economic region – and thus seize new business opportunities and secure advantages over other competitors.