Erfurt (dpa/th) – According to the Erfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), relations between Thuringia’s economy and Russia have been frozen since the war of aggression against Ukraine. “The search for new suppliers or a return to warehousing has become an ongoing everyday task for many companies,” said IHK President Dieter Bauhaus on Tuesday in Erfurt.
The Thuringian economy has learned over the past decades to deal with difficult situations. “In every crisis there are also opportunities,” said Bauhaus. Nevertheless, the path from the Corona crisis to the energy crisis is very difficult for many companies.
The relief packages from the federal government and the Thuringian hardship fund gave hope. But the bureaucratic hurdles are immense, said the Chamber President. “The regulation madness makes it even more difficult for companies to deal with the difficult framework conditions.” As a first step, he rated the introduction of a regulatory control council in Thuringia. Reducing bureaucracy has top priority and must be felt by companies.
In 2023, it must be a matter of increasing the security of energy supply and curbing price fluctuations. To achieve this, the expansion of renewable energies should be accelerated. To do this, the Thuringian ministries would have to work better together, planning and approval processes would have to be accelerated.
When it comes to recruiting skilled workers, the economy relies on the amendment of the Skilled Immigration Act by the federal government. “The shortage of skilled workers remains a stressful ongoing issue in many Thuringian companies. Every second Thuringian IHK company cannot fill vacancies in the long term, “the search is particularly difficult for jobs for professionally qualified people,” said Bauhaus.
The establishment of a central foreigners authority for Thuringia has been required since 2020 with the aim of achieving more uniform, predictable, transparent and faster decisions on the immigration of international skilled workers. In addition, the staffing situation in the immigration authorities would have to be improved.
