Translated material
East as a matter of the heart
Merkel praises Schröder for 'flow'
The name of the new head of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy was officially announced yesterday at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin. As expected by the Vremya Novostei newspaper , the new leader following the election results was the Chairman of the Board of the Metro trading concern, Eckhard Cordes. He replaces 67-year-old Klaus Mangold. He was thanked yesterday for his cooperation by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who sent special telegrams on this occasion.Mr Cordes is said to have happily agreed to become an "ambassador of German business" in the region covering Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. How vitally important this direction is for Germany is evidenced by the contingent of invited participants (more than 300 people) at the solemn act of transfer of power in the Eastern Committee.
For example, two federal chancellors were present at once - the current chancellor, leader of the Christian Democrats Angela Merkel, and her predecessor, who is also the former main political rival, Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder. Having been defeated in the 2005 parliamentary elections, Mr. Schröder, on behalf of the Russian Gazprom, led, as chairman of the shareholders’ committee, the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, through which natural gas supplies from Russia to Germany and other EU countries should begin in a year. The project, for which Schröder was personally commended by Chancellor Merkel yesterday, was one of the results of what was then said to be his “male friendship” with former Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition, other well-known politicians, ambassadors of almost all Eastern European countries, and public figures testified their recognition to the Eastern Committee. For example, active participants in the events of twenty years ago (German reunification) came. These are former German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher and former GDR Prime Minister Lothar de Maizières.
Mangold introduced another guest from yesterday’s meeting simply as “dear Alexey.” It was Alexey Mordashov, chairman of the board of directors of Severstal. The Russian oligarch is the co-chairman of the Russian-German strategic working group. “Thank you, Mr. Mordashov, for your speech delivered in German,” Angela Merkel told him. — I know that you studied in Leipzig. It brings us closer." The Federal Chancellor of Germany herself once studied at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig.
It is noteworthy that just these days, Federal President Christian Wulff, accompanied by business captains, is lobbying for the interests of the German economy in the vastness of Russia. “Business in Russia is not only a priority for our economy, but also a strategic direction,” Angela Merkel emphasized yesterday. She added that “Germany and the European Union as a whole are interested in a strong, prosperous Russia.” According to the Chancellor, it is necessary to bring closer the time when “Russia in the German economy will be represented not only by the supply of raw materials.”
Among German entrepreneurs, Klaus Mangold, who over the last decade has devoted himself entirely to strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries, is often jokingly called “Mr. Russia.” Yesterday he admitted that heading the Eastern Committee was not a job for him, but “a matter of the heart.” His successor, Eckhard Cordes, turns 60 in November. His trading concern Metro, which mainly supplies wholesalers with food, electronics, clothing and other goods, is making far-reaching plans for expansion in the eastern direction, including in Russia. He is considered a cooler pragmatist and will combine his “narrow departmental” interest in this region with the tasks that German politics and economics put before him.