VDA President Prof. Bernd Gottschalk appointed member of honor
New VDA President takes office as the EU seeks a compromise on CO2
Frankfurt am Main/Berlin, 23 May 2007. In Brussels the German Government has a clear position on CO2: “In Europe we do not need a rigid unified CO2 level for all automotive manufacturers, but instead a segment-related approach taking account of the differences between models,” emphasized the Federal Minister of Economics, Michael Glos, to more than 400 guests from politics and business. He was speaking at the farewell gathering for the outgoing VDA president, Prof. Bernd Gottschalk, in Berlin on Tuesday evening. Shortly before this there was a dispute in Brussels in the EU’s Competitiveness Council, at which the preparations for the future CO2-reduction policy for passenger cars was discussed in an initial meeting of the ministers for industry.
In his speech Prof. Gottschalk emphasized the fact that the German automotive industry explicitly supports the German Government’s policy of reaching a differentiated solution. “I believe that it is courageous and far-sighted of Chancellor Merkel, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, the Minister of Economics and the Minister of Transport to make it absolutely clear in Brussels that we will not accept a single, unified upper limit for CO2, which would turn climate protection policy into industrial policy. For a long time we have been waiting for our interests to be represented more courageously in Brussels, too!” He added that the German automotive industry was searching for a consensus on a practicable CO2-reduction policy that would be acceptable to all the manufacturers active in Europe.
Prof. Gottschalk went on to say, “The German automotive industry will not surrender its domain - the premium segments - to a policy motivated by industrial policy, seeing that the international competition has so far not managed to do this via the market. But it is willing to attempt to continue disproportionately large reductions,” the VDA president stressed.
In his tribute to Prof. Gottschalk, Jürgen Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) emphasized: “Freedom through more competition – this motto defines the successful career of Bernd Gottschalk.” He said that for 25 years in the BDI Prof. Gottschalk had worked “tirelessly for German industry and in particular for traffic policy,” initially as a member of the BDI Traffic Committee, and for the last 14 years as its president. For ten years Prof. Gottschalk has also been a member of the BDI Board, and has served as BDI Vice President for many years.
Mr. Thumann underscored Prof. Gottschalk’s “clear, market-based policy,” which the latter had always put forward with great credibility. This was backed up by the conviction that traffic problems cannot be solved by even more state control, but that what is needed is more orientation on the goals of the market economy. Mr. Thumann described Prof. Gottschalk as “an outstanding managerial personality” and emphasized, “You have done great service to German traffic policy and German industry.”
Prof. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the board at Volkswagen AG, stressed, “Prof. Gottschalk has filled the various roles of the VDA president in an impressive manner: being a business representative and a politician, an advocate for motorists, the automotive manufacturers and all the VDA’s members, and also the role of being a constant driving force for innovations promoting forward-looking mobility.”
He added that Prof. Gottschalk had “never got distracted,” but had always kept a sure eye on the important issues and great challenges facing this industry: globalization, traffic safety and environmental protection. As early as ten years ago Prof. Gottschalk had said that reducing CO2 emissions was “one of the great topics of the future.” Since that time German road traffic had saved over 21 million tonnes of CO2 – despite huge rises in the amount of traffic. In addition, through the VDA’s own office in Brussels Prof. Gottschalk had prepared the VDA for the “international stage,” Prof. Winterkorn said. “For over a decade Bernd Gottschalk has been effective in shaping the image of this industry.” He went on to say that Prof. Gottschalk, a man from the automotive industry who knew about politics, was about to be succeeded by Matthias Wissmann, a politician who knew about the automotive industry.
Finally, Prof. Gottschalk emphasized: “Anyone who thinks that being VDA President can be limited to PR and lobbying – however important these aspects are – is mistaken. The most important ‘specialty’ of the VDA for our common competitiveness is the manufacturer-supplier relationship under the VDA umbrella. It is superior to every other form of cooperation – including the keiretsu! For this reason I have dedicated all my energy to this job – with all its aspects, such as conflicts of loyalty, being at the head of the auto industry, diplomacy, etc., included free of charge.”
He underscored that being appointed a member of honor of the VDA by the Association’s Managing Board filled him with gratitude and pride. And he concluded, “It has been eleven truly exciting years, eleven fine years and eleven fulfilling years. I wouldn’t have missed them for anything.”