SPIEGEL newsletter “All the best”: Friedrich Merz scores with clichés – yes, really!

Germans are punctual. Germans are meticulous, some even say pedantic. Germans spread their towel on the sun lounger before breakfast. These are clichés, of course. But isn't there a grain of truth in that?

That doesn't necessarily have to be negative, as Friedrich Merz, of all people, showed this week. The Chancellor is actually known for his at least unfortunate handling of clichés and prejudices. But at the “Invest in Germany” summit in Berlin he knew how to use it constructively.

He promoted Germany as a business location with self-ironic attributions: the people here are reliable. Germans are predictable. “In short: We are exactly what investors value most,” says Merz.

Around 200 international and German CEOs sat in the audience. My colleague Markus Becker, who attended the summit, told me that some people laughed at Merz's speech. “Participants mostly commented positively on the meeting,” he wrote to me.

The purpose of the event was less to make concrete investment commitments and more to talk to the government and other entrepreneurs. This, several participants told him, worked well. Some emphasized that the summit must now take place regularly in order to be effective in the long term.

This year the result is certainly impressive: Amazon announced that it wanted to invest around 16 billion euros in Germany. Jensen Huang, founder of US chip developer Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, is seeking collaborations with German companies in the AI ​​sector.

Germany has the potential to be one of the most successful economies in the world, said Huang in an on-stage conversation with Merz. As an investment location, Germany doesn't have to hide behind anyone.