Economists split over Siemens Energy mandate
February 22, 2024
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
Economist Veronika Grimm is to join the Supervisory Board of Siemens Energy. Her colleagues on the committee see this as an unacceptable conflict of interest.
The Chair of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer, and all three other economic experts have called on their colleague Veronika Grimm to choose between membership of the committee and the Supervisory Board of Siemens Energy. This dispute, unique in the 61-year history of the economic advisory body for the German government, was first reported by FAZ, Handelsblatt, Zeit online and Table Media.
According to the report, an atmospheric and strategic dispute has been simmering for some time among the five economic experts, particularly between Monika Schnitzer and Veronika Grimm, which has now culminated. Grimm had repeatedly spoken out in public with special votes that were more critical of the government than the chairwoman's statements, for example on her proposal to temporarily introduce a tax on the rich in order to compensate for the fuzziness of the heat price brakes at the time.
In December, Grimm's colleagues claim to have only learned from the newspaper that Siemens Energy Supervisory Board Chairman Joe Kaeser had won her over to the supervisory body. The election would take place on February 26 at the Annual General Meeting.
Some colleagues had initially expressed concerns about "possible conflicts of interest" in personal emails to Grimm. Grimm rejected these in personal replies. She pointed out that the membership of an economist on a supervisory board of a stock corporation was legally permissible - a point that Schnitzer admitted to the German Press Agency on February 21. Among others, the then economist Wolfgang Franz sat on the supervisory board of EnBW. And Beatrice Weder di Mauro only left the board when she joined the board of directors of UBS - she had previously been a member of the supervisory board of Thyssen Krupp.
Fear of no longer being considered independent
The four others were not satisfied with Grimm's information. Early on February 21, Ulrike Malmendier was quoted in an advance online report by Die Zeit as saying that she was "very concerned" that "we would no longer be perceived as an independent body on energy issues if Veronika Grimm were to hold a dual mandate". In reply emails to Grimm, Malmendier and the other three insisted that she make a decision.
The matter entered the political arena and from there into the public eye, because the four also sent copies of their emails to Kaeser, the head of the Chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). Table Media, for example, referred to "government circles" in its information.
Sticking points: wind, hydrogen, guarantees, power plant strategy
"If," Malmendier continued in Die Zeit, "we have to exclude Veronika from consultations on green hydrogen or wind energy in future, that would be a disaster, as that is her area of expertise. On the other hand, if she doesn't see the problem herself and says, no, you don't have to exclude me, then we have an even bigger problem."
Siemens Energy also recently received guarantees from the federal government for 7.5 billion euros "and is hoping to win orders through the federal government's power plant strategy", Malmendier continued. Siemens Energy includes the loss-making wind turbine business of Siemens Gamesa as well as the profitable production of power plant gas turbines.
On February 21, Chairwoman Schnitzer sounded the same horn and told DPA that Siemens Energy was a company relevant to the energy transition that the federal government had supported with a guarantee. Although the nomination is an honor for the committee and for science, membership of both committees is not an end in itself.
Economics professor Veronika Grimm from Erlangen is also a member of the German government's National Hydrogen Council. Among other things, she researches energy markets and their modeling. The economic experts traditionally only issue their economic report once a year, but there are efforts to speak out more frequently in these fast-moving times.
Author: Georg Eble