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We Have Ways Of Helping You Do Business
Tsk, sexist
Guess: What's Europe's best country to do business in? Wrong - according to accountancy group Ernst & Young, it's Germany. Germany comes out top because of its infrastructure, educated workforce, political stability and dedication to research and development. The new government under centre-right leader Angela Merkel is said to figure in the ranking, too, while this week's papers are full of renewed consumer and business confidence in the nation, possibly linked to the forthcoming World Cup Finals.
That's good news for the German embassy in London, which has just launched a public-private campaign designed to lure businesses to Germany.
Fronted by supermodel Claudia Schiffer (see gratuitous photo above), the Invest in Germany campaign hopes to rebrand Germany as "The Land of Ideas."
The campaign plays on British views of Germany - and nods to the infamous "Hello Boys" Wonderbra advertising posters from the 1990s. There's even a mention of 5-1, referring to England's drubbing of their favourite rivals in 2001.
Schiffer says she took the role because Germany gave her "language, love and an identity, and... (provided) me with nearly perfect social, economical and political conditions." Dunno about the other stuff, but wasn't Claudia linked with bizarre US magician David Copperfield before marrying Brit Matthew Vaughn? Anyway, she adds that "Starting with cars, bras, aspirins, football shoes, ipods to name just a few - Germany has made and will make more things possible than beer and punctuality."
Besides the embassy, the campaign is supported by some of Germany's most famous companies, including Audi, Deutsche Telekom and Lufthansa.
It's a relief to see the good times rolling in Germany, after what seems like years of high unemployment, economic stagnation and general misery. The World Cup - which optimists believe will add 0.5 percent to GDP - will be the crowning glory of several months' news pointing to an economic revival.
Or so we all hope: The BBC reports that an influential German think-tank believes that the World Cup effect will be as skimpy as one of Frau Schiffer's negligees. Economic recovery "will only happen if the World Cup leads to a sharp change in consumption and investment behaviour," it says, "and that is not to be expected in this case."
Other organisations point to problems that Ernst & Young's survey played down. "Germany's market share of foreign direct investment projects in Europe still lags far behind the market leaders, the UK and France," writes the EU Observer, quoting the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The survey itself bemoans Germany's "high labour and tax costs, the inflexible workforce and the bureaucracy."
Only last year, a prominent left-wing politican described foreign investors as "locusts" with the clear implication that they weren't welcome in Germany. Franz Müntefering - for it was he - is now Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Vice-Chancellor in Angela Merkel's shaky grand coalition government.
Indeed, when one notes that Germany comes third in the world after the US and China - and was beaten into fifth place last year by India and Poland - one has to wonder what standards the survey's authors take into account. It's not unlike the notoriously bizarre FIFA rankings prepared before every world cup, which often have little relation to how teams perform on the pitch.
That said, few would deny Germany its place in the sun. Its slow growth is blamed as a drag on the Eurozone, and an improvement in German economic health would boost all of Europe's economy. Let's hope Invest in Germany's honeytrap attracts some locusts.
More Claudia photos here.
