Scholz announces summit for German industrial policy agenda

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to address extensive problems facing German industry with a summit in the Chancellery later this month, he announced in remarks to parliament on Wednesday.

"I will invite company representatives, industrial trade unions and industrial associations to a meeting in the Chancellery this month, where they will all come together and we will discuss precisely those things that are necessary," he said in a government statement ahead of the upcoming EU summit in Brussels.

"I will propose to this parliament that we also initiate what comes out of it so that things can move forward in Germany," he added.

In Germany, it is particularly important to fight for industry, said Scholz.

Germany is an industrialized country and has not succumbed to the "temptation of many others who have said that industry can be written off, financial centres are the only thing you need," the chancellor said.

"[That is why we must now] fight together with industry, on which millions of jobs depend, to preserve this foundation of our prosperity," he added.

In addition to what his coalition government has already proposed, Scholz on Wednesday said he is in favour of "agreeing on a new industrial policy agenda that benefits everyone."

This should not be announced from a lectern before parliament in the capital of Berlin, "but should be something that we fight for and work on together," he said.