Thursday, May 27, 2010

MULTIPARTIDISTA




LOS FACTORES DEL PODER


Poderes formales y reales

El análisis de todas las instituciones implantadas en México según el modelo de gobierno de la teoría política euroamericana revela que hay un partido preponderante, dependiente y auxiliar del propio gobierno, que el movimiento obrero se encuentra en condiciones semejantes de dependencia, que el Congreso es controlado por el presidente, que los estados son controlados por la federación, que los municipios son controlados por los estados y la federación, y, en resumen, que no se da el modelo de los "tres poderes", o el sistema de los "contrapesos y balanzas", o el gobierno local de los vecinos electores, ideado por los filósofos y legisladores del siglo XIX, sino una concentración del poder: a) en el gobierno; b) en el gobierno del centro; c) en el ejecutivo, y d) en el presidente. Excepción hecha de las limitaciones que impone la Suprema Corte, en casos particulares y en defensa de intereses particulares y derechos cívicos, si sólo se analizaran estos elementos, el presidente de México aparecería gozando de un poder ilimitado.

De hecho la comparación del modelo con la realidad no sólo deja entrever la imagen de un régimen presidencialista, sino que a cada paso hace crecer la idea de que el poder presidencial no tiene límites. Sólo el análisis de los verdaderos factores del poder y de la estructura internacional conduce a la delimitación y relativización de poder presidencial.


Conferencia de Demetrio Sodi en Yale

Los verdaderos factores del poder en México -como en muchos países hispanoamericanos- han sido y en ocasiones siguen siendo: a) los caudillos y caciques regionales y locales; b) el ejército; c) el clero; d) los latifundistas y los empresarios nacionales y extranjeros.



Se trata, en todos los casos, de instituciones que han influido o influyen directamente en la decisión gubernamental, y cuya acción como instituciones políticas no sólo era ajena a la teoría euroamericana de la democracia (para la vida política todos ellos deberían haberse organizado como ciudadanos), sino que incluso la mayoría eran el blanco de toda la ideología liberal.

. . .

II. EL EJÉRCITO

Otro factor tradicional de poder ha sido el ejército. "De los 137 años que abarca nuestra existencia como nación independiente -escribía José E. Iturriaga en 1958- 93 años en conjunto ejercieron el poder los militares; en tanto que los civiles solamente lo ejercieron 44. Es decir, el 70% frente al 30%. Mas, por lo que se refiere al porcentaje que representan los militares y los civiles dentro del total de los 55 gobernantes individuales que hemos tenido, los 36 que vistieron uniforme con charreteras significan el 67% mientras el 33% restante lo cubren nuestros 19 gobernantes civiles.

En el periodo posterior a la Revolución Mexicana la presencia e influencia de los militares en la política nacional ha ido disminuyendo como lo prueban una serie de hechos:

1. ". . .Mientras en la etapa que va desde 1821 a 1917, de los cuarenta y cuatro gobernantes individuales que hubo en ella, treinta y tres fueron militares y catorce civiles", en el periodo 1917-66 seis han sido militares y siete civiles. En los últimos veinte años los cuatro presidentes que ha tenido México han sido civiles.

2. En los últimos 30 años el ejército se ha mantenido con 50 000 hombres, y la proporción que representa respecto de la fuerza de trabajo ha ido reduciéendose notablemente.

3. Quizás donde es más visible la disminución del poder militar, en la política mexicana, es en la proporción que corresponde a los egresos del gobierno federal destinados al ejército, respecto del total de egresos federales: mientras en 1925 el ejército absorbe el 44% del total de egresos de la Federación, en 1963 absorbe sólo el 6%*.

De un periodo presidencial a otro vemos cómo baja la proporción de los gastos destinados al ejército: 28% en el gobierno de Calles (1925-28), 26% en el maximato (1929-34), 18% en el gobierno de Cárdenas (1934-40), 16% en el de Avila Camacho (1940-46), 10% en el de Alemán (1946-52), 8% en el de Ruíz Cortines (1952-58), y 6% como promedio en los primeros cinco años del gobierno de López Mateos.

4. El ejército mexicano de hoy absorbe un porcentaje del producto nacional menor al que se asigna a las fuerzas armadas de cualquier otro país latinoamericano, excepción hecha de Costa Rica.

Que México ha controlado y superado la etapa del militarismo es un hecho innegable. El militarismo ya no representa en la política mexicana esa amenaza permanente y organizada que actúa en forma de cuerpo político, imponiendo sus condiciones con la fuerza y amenazando con romper la paz si no recibe prestaciones especiales, fueros y privilegios, como grupo escogido y poderoso dentro de la nación.

El control de los militares y de actuación política se debe al impulso de los propios militares. Son, en efecto, el general Calles, el general Cárdenas y el general Avila Camacho quienes ponen en práctica una serie de medidas para controlarlos. La profesionalización de los caudillos y jefes militares empieza con Calles, su ingreso obligado al partido, como uno de los sectores que lo integran, incrementa el control y la disciplina política, la desaparición del sector militar dentro del partido y su fusión con el llamado "sector popular" es un paso más del control, que tiende a impedir los distingos entre civiles y militares dentro de la política. La organización de campesinos a los que se les entregan no sólo tierras, sino armas, en la época de Cárdenas, es seguramente uno de los pasos más importantes para el control del militarismo.

Si estos pasos de tipo político se añaden a las medidas financieras a las que aludimos arriba, podemos comprender en qué ha consistido el proceso de desmilitarización de la política mexicana. Pero habría que añadir un hecho más, poco estudiado, que hace coincidentes la tarea de militar y la de empresariado o contratista, en que el antiguo militar parasitario se va aburguesando. En parte se trata de un proceso más de medidas políticas en que, al tiempo que se disminuye el poder financiero del ejército se celebran contratos y se dan facilidades para que el jefe militar se convierta en empresario. Como cuerpo político el ejército pierde fuerza; en lo particular, una serie de jefes militares pierden belicosidad y se dedican a asuntos particulares, ampliamente tolerados y hasta fomentados.

Pero hay algo más. A todas estas medidas políticas financieras y comerciales se añade el desarrollo económico y social de la Nación. El militarismo de los países hispanoamericanos forma parte de todo un sistema en que los latifundios son el elemento esencial. Desaparecidos los latifundios, como forma predominante de las relaciones económicas y políticas, el militarismo pasa a ocupar una posición muy distinta en el conjunto de las relaciones sociales.

Medidas de control directo, reforma agraria y desarrollo económico son el origen de la desaparición del militar como principal personaje de la política mexicana. Que esta desaparición no sea definitiva y que pueda renacer en alguna forma el antiguo militarismo es otro problema. Por lo pronto podemos hablar, en este caso, como en el de los caciques, de una tendencia secular a su salida del foro político.


EL ANALISIS MARXISTA


Los códigos y las constituciones no producen la realidad social, sino que son su expresión directa o mediata. El código napoleónico no produjo la sociedad civil moderna: "Por el contrario -como dice Marx- la sociedad civil que surgió en el siglo XVIII y continuó desarrollándose en el XIX encuentra en el código napoleónico tan sólo su expresión legal." Y en México la lucha nacional y la lucha de clases, propias de un estado semicolonial y semifeudal, reprodujeron las formas legales que eran la expresión de estructuras más avanzadas, sin que esas estructuras sugieran aquí por el simple hecho de que se implantaran sus expresiones legales.

La lucha del clases y la lucha ideológica que se libró en México a raíz de la caída del usurpador Huerta llevó a un pacto de facciones y clases, a un "compromiso que les permitió continuar la lucha" con una Constitución liberal avanzada, que incluía varios derechos sociales. La Constitución operó como instrumento de una burguesía incipiente, aliada a los trabajadores organizados y a los campesinos armados, en lucha contra el latifundismo y el imperialismo. Quedando la dirección nacional y la dirección de las propias clases trabajadoras -obreras y campesinas- entre los líderes de la burguesía y de la pequeña burguesía, según la relación de fuerzas de unos y otros, se dio mayor o menor cumplimiento a los artículos del pacto constitucional. Fuera del pacto, excluidas de la Constitución quedaron las "masas exhaustas del pueblo", que la Constitución no fue un instrumento directo ni indirecto, y las que no encontraron expresión en ella.

La Constitución fue así -en resumen-, instrumento y expresión de una burguesía incipiente aliada a los trabajadores organizados en la lucha contra el latifundismo y el imperialismo. La Constitución fue un instrumento del desarrollo del capitalismo y del desarrollo del país dentro del capitalismo. Pero como el país no se desarrolló plenamente dentro del capitalismo las instituciones más características de la democracia capitalista tampoco se desarrollaron.



. . .

Uno de los problemas más difíciles de precisar es el tiempo de la revolución socialista. Trotsky dice que mientras Herzen acusaba a Bakunin de tomar el segundo mes de embarazo por el noveno, Herzen tomaba el noveno por el segundo. El propio Trotsky, se equivocó a este respecto cuando pensó que ya era el tiempo de la revolución mundial. Hoy asistimos a un debate similar entre los partidos comunistas, con los partidos soviético y europeos de un lado y los partidos chino, albano y coreano de otro.

En el caso de México -donde por su situación estructural específica- se oscila permanentemente del oportunismo al sectarismo, del reformismo al radicalismo verbal y la "frase revolucionaria", donde se pasa de la línea soviética, aquí pequeño burguesa, a la línea albana, aquí también pequeño burguesa, con intentos en abstracto de imitar a la revolución cubana, o con admiración por el trotskismo a ultranza, sin precisar si se dan las condiciones objetivas y subjetivas de una revolución socialista, han surgido eventualmente grupos o dirigentes izquierdistas que han acariciado la idea de otra revolución. Estos grupos olvidan las nociones más elementales de todo proceso revolucionario; olvidan que no se puede invitar a una revolución como cuando se invita a tomar una taza de té -como dice Mao-; olvidan incluso lo que dice Trotsky, que "la premisa fundamental de una revolución es que la estructura social existente se haya vuelto incapaz de resolver los problemas urgentes del desarrollo de una nación", y olvidan lo que dice el Che Guevara: "Donde un gobierno haya subido al poder por alguna forma de consulta popular, fraudulenta o no y se mantenga al menos una apariencia de legalidad constitucional, el brote guerrillero es imposible de producir por no haberse agotado las posibilidades de la lucha cívica." Estos grupos no investigan, no saben que precisamente éstas son las condiciones de México, y que al no darse la premisa de la revolución, al no haberse agotado las posibilidades de la lucha cívica para el proletariado y el campesinado, ni la revolución violenta ni las guerras de guerrillas son posibles, y que tampoco se van a dar por un pequeño receso económico; que no se van a dar por las luchas internas que libren los grupos de la burguesía o del imperialismo, que los marxistas no deben ver en cualquier algarada, motín, movimiento huelguístico, por importante que sea, el síntoma indiscutible de que ya llegó el tiempo de otra revolución, de que ya se dieron las condiciones de otra revolución. No habrá otra revolución en México -y de ello es necesario tener clara conciencia- sino cuando la estructura social sea incapaz de resolver los problemas urgentes del desarrollo de la nación y cuando se hayan agotado las posibilidades de la lucha cívica.

GONZALEZ-CASANOVA, P. La Democracia en México. Ediciones Era. Séptima Edición 1975. México, D.F.




Pablo González Casanova: la nueva colonización de México 1/4


Una alta presión nos ha devuelto un tiempo seco y caluroso a esta frontera.



Well, como parece que les gustó un buen el post sobre fucho, pues vamos a continuar con el tópico desde un ángulo distinto. Por las poderosas razones que unas líneas abajo desglosaré, en un principio había decidido llamar al presente escrito "el estratega", pero ese título ya fue utilizado cuando lamentablemente falleció "el poeta" Benedetti, así que lo deseché en el acto; puedo repetir noticias y cancioncillas, pero títulos no, ¿no creen? Anyway, intentaremos abordar de nueX el carácter biunívoco de las cosas últimas (uchales, hasta acá puedo ver sus bostezos, nel aquí no se va a discutir la legalidad de la píldora del día siguiente, don't worry), je, je; porque recuerden que la explotación de nuestros compas, y la desigualdad social continúan agrandándose diariamente en nuestra República Mexicana.

El otro día veía un documental sobre la capacidad que tiene un ajedrecista, para jugar varias partidas en diferentes tableros a la vez. Si mal no recuerdo, una de las habilidades más importantes de estos geniales personajes, radica en su capacidad para recordar movimientos, sobre todo aquellos que, previamente utilizados, los conducirían con mucha probabilidad al jaque mate.


El Séptimo Sello/Det Sjunde inseglet. Parte 12

Vamos a imaginarnos una variante de esta situación, muchísimo más cañona, porque no lidia(ría)mos con inanimadas piezas de ajedrez, sino con seres humanos, ¡¡¡ufff!!!



'Tonz, usted está llamado a couchear varios partidos de fútbol a la vez, en diferentes "canchas reglamentarias" obviamente. Y para mostrar que somos bien chipocles, se tienen que ganar todos los matches sin excepción, no importando los obstáculos que se nos. . . pongan enfrente, ¿se hace?



En el primer campo, a leguas vamos dominando el partido, poniéndole un. . . baile al equipo contrario, pero tenemos un árbitro que se empeña en perjudicarnos. En lugar de aplicar la justicia (btw, en nuestro terruño acabamos de inaugurar la epistolar, a gusto del "cliente") pareja, favorece a nuestros contrincantes. ¿Posibilidades? Mmm, continuar jugando manteniendo la concentración, enfocándonos principalmente en el sector defensivo, ya que con un gol en contra se acaban todas nuestras ilusiones, al mismo tiempo que se intenta, con una inobjetable anotación, "liquidar" al rival.



En otra cancha tenemos a un grupo de pamboleros no muy bien dotados, pero con un estelar juego de conjunto. Este equipo además cuenta con la mejor promesa de todas las canchas, pero falto de experiencia, el rey del fucho llanero, pues. Este crack en potencia podría definir un partido con un arranque de. . . genialidad, pero carece de los arrestos necesarios para "echarse el brinco" a las ligas mayores. ¿Sugerencia? Mantenga al grupo unido a toda costa, exíjale a los 10 restantes "miembros" que, en lo posible, den el 1000% pa' motivar a este bisoño jugador hasta "jalarlo" a sus alturas por lo menos, hasta que se consiga la anhelada victoria.


Lone Ranger, The - Trailer (1956)

Probablemente el más enredoso de los desafíos sea áquel en que teniendo un equipo repleto de cracks (Football Showtime! n°1: Brazil 1982 (all goals), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc74HIzLcIQ), contemos con un jugador impuesto por la gente del billete (cercano a vaya usted a saber quién (Francia 1998 (Alemania 2 - México 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgojqNNVJVc), con un parentesco que abre cualquier puerta (Todos Los Goles De Mexico En El Mundial De Alemania 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8zirEx4y1E), ) pretentious (Graduación de Alumnos de la Escuela Kennedy de Gobierno de la Universidad de Harvard, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdxnT8WGWo), full of fantasy (Uriah Heep - Return To Fantasy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAz2cfuqk8Q) about himself, but empty of the minimum effectivity (Cabinho , Best Player Ever in Mexican Soccer League 1 / 3, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkSeTuUOxGc), this guy (Family Guy Blue Harvest trailer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdBRvGtnok) seems to be working against (México, 1916: Fallece Victoriano Huerta, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyOUN42aCaA) rather than for us all. Falla el remate (Copa 1986 - Grupo C - França 1 x 0 Canadá, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWgINqoSltY), sopla, perdón, abanica las pelotas (Toluca vs Santos - Final Vuelta - Partido (10-10) Toluca Campeon, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Atb5Dzkgk), vuela la bolea, etc., etc. etc) Whan can we do, then? Quite a challenge (FINAL COUNTDOWN CHALLENGER subtitulado, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43GQCvFPaeM), huh? Bueno, debido a los patricinios (http://www.proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/79790, La noche de gala de Slim y Maciel) está del carajo deshacernos de este tipejo (http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/opinion/1966/el-imperio-manda-las-colonias-obedecen/, El imperio manda, las colonias obedecen), así que al resto del equipo solo le queda hacer un trato en bola (http://marcosalas.blogspot.com/2010/05/are-we-on-brink-of-new-deal-for-local.html,Are We on the Brink of a New Deal for Local Economies?) e intentar el triunfo con este inmenso handicap (Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico, answers a question at Davos 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epOE4IN44Yw).



. . . to be finished?

No hay barrera (Enanitos Verdes - La Muralla verde (Full Original Video)), por más grande que ésta sea, que logre impedir -a un pueblo convencido (http://marcosalas.blogspot.com/2008/05/el-gaucho-veloz.html)- la construcción (Construcción, de Chico Buarque (en español), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsdFvPQj9m4) de una revolución, que yo desearía -que- fuera pacífica (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/05/25/index.php?section=opinion&article=019a1pol, Jyri Jaakkola: el solidario). Due to this non-violent strategy, we fully understand that we are extremely limited. Cada una de estas piedritas (Bob Seger - Like a Rock subtitulado, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROySbbHwcWk) en el camino continuamente (#1-2 Chaos theory, infinity, randomness, fractals and african people, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSegN6v-5ts) se combinan para hacer harto más difícil nuestra resistencia. No basta con tener un ojo al gato (http://proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/79570, Se fractura equipo de Yunes; renuncia coordinador "por riñas internas") y otro al garabato (http://proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/79381, El pacto de yunquistas y calderonistas), también se necesita comprender cada situación adversa (http://marcosalas.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-order-is-chaos-by-chan-akya-i-saw.html, The new order is chaos), y aplicar la estrategia idónea para contrarrestarla, sin nunca perder de vista la meta colectiva; para volver loco (QUEEN - IM GOING SLIGHTLY MAD - (TRADUCIDO AL ESPAÑOL)(1991), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14-vgB-4kmk) a cualquiera, ¿no? Nevertheless, in the name of our. . . country (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons, Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons), you and I (You And I (Filarmonica De Berlin) - Scorpions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7be56TskXU) gotta try to make it happen, or nobody else will do it for us.AL TIEMPO.



"TOGETHER we stand, DIVIDED we fall."

M@RCOtejando (Mexico vs Bulgaria penales Estados Unidos 1994 Televisa, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3H4TbTppDo);

MATAmoros, TAMoviendo piezas (Ajedrez Capablanca con 12años nos da dos lecciones buenisimas, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPpEvnMNfF4);

27/05/10.




... well, It didn't work... again. A humble suggestion: change that tactic , buddies.







MEMORY SHOTS:


Inauguramos nueva sección en este blog. En estos tiempos en que andamos tupiditos de Mug Shots; queremos recordar
en este espacio una que otra imagen, que esperamos haya movido, así sea momentáneamente, una fibra interna de nuestro arrinconado civismo.



SPECIAL REQUESTS:


* ¿Cuánto absorbió durante el año fiscal de 2009 en México?


What about Tax Havens?

Na' más por pura precaución -y como soy muy desconfiado; no se puede ser un respetado mexica sin un buen de incredulidad, ¿qué no?- espero que "la regulación" también incluya las operaciones trianguladas (porque hasta el ex muñeco de la SEGOB (Las muñecas de la mafia, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c20a_Zaocxw) sabía que las nuevas generaciones de narketos no hacen los negocios a la antigüita) mediante paraísos fiscales (a cuya regulación no le quiso entrar el G20), ¿verdad, "Mi Nene"?





¿Alguna recomendación pa' mi biblioteca (http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/248505.la-guerra-del-libro.html) personal? Nos vemos el viernes que entra en la UNAM.




ENCORE ROÑOSO:



Videos tu.tv
Perro callejero 1, 1 - 12















420 Pictures, Images and Photos
SNOOPY Pictures, Images and Photos




http://marcosalas.blogspot.com/2010/05/multi-partidista-los-factores-del-poder.html
http://creatividadsocialmentecomprometida.blogspot.com/2010/05/multi-partidista-los-factores-del-poder.html

Venezuela y Brasil impulsan alianza estratégica en el área financiera

spacer
spacer
 El canciller venezolano, Nicolás Maduro, resaltó el nivel de  cooperación que existe entre su país y Brasil. (Foto: ABN)
El canciller venezolano, Nicolás Maduro, resaltó el nivel de cooperación que existe entre su país y Brasil. (Foto: ABN)


TeleSUR _ Hace: 09 horas

Con la instalación de un taller de planificación estratégica, Venezuela y Brasil continúan impulsan una alianza estratégica en el área financiera, con lo cual profundizan algunos acuerdos ya suscritos entre las principales instituciones bancarias públicas de ambas naciones suramericanas, según señaló el canciller venezolano, Nicolás Maduro.

Al evaluar la primera jornada del taller, Maduro sostuvo que el encuentro bilateral permitirá además revisar otras áreas de cooperación de los dos países, entre ellas, el desarrollo de actividades económicas una vasta zona comprendida entre el sur de Venezuela y el norte de Brasil.

"Este taller nos va a permitir tener una evaluación mas objetiva, pero ademas tener una visión estratégica de un plan que permita desarrollar lo que nunca antes habíamos tenido con Brasil: Grandes columnas de desarrollo en los grandes temas del momento histórico que vive la humanidad (Â…) y el desarrollo de una gran zona, digamos de posibilidades, como es el norte de Brasil y el sur de Venezuela", dijo el canciller venezolano.

En lo que a materia financiera se refiere, el máximo representante de la diplomacia venezolana destacó que se abordará el tema referente a la alianza entre la entidad Caixa Federal de Brasil y el Banco de Venezuela, ambas instituciones financieras de carácter público, "para democratizar los servicios bancarios a los sectores populares de la población".

"Además combinar proyectos de vivienda con créditos que permitan no sólo mejorar las viviendas en sectores populares sino avanzar en la urbanización y construcción en sectores populares de nuevo tipo", añadió Maduro.

Maduro insistió en que, como parte del taller de planificación estratégica, un grupo de especialistas y funcionarios de alto nivel de ambas naciones evalúan los proyectos de desarrollo bilateral y que, además, prevén profundizar los alcances de distintos programas que ya están en marcha.

Asimismo, aseguró que se profundizará la alianza del Gobierno venezolano con el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo de Brasil (BNDES) para financiar grandes obras de infraestructura e inversiones industriales en Venezuela.


Resaltó que "la complementación de proyectos conjuntos de desarrollo con Brasil demuestra la posibilidad de construir un nuevo tipo de relación bilateral entre nuestros países".


"Alejados de los viejos dogmas que sometían nuestra relaciones sólo al comercio, de algunos grandes comercios, siempre vinculadas a transnacionales, hoy vamos al desarrollo de los grandes temas, de la vida actual y del futuro de nuestros países", puntualizó.

Como parte de su participación en el taller, en Venezuela se encuentra una delegación brasileña encabezada por el ministro Jefe de Asuntos Estratégicos, Samuel Pinheiro y el viceministro de Brasil para las Relaciones con América Latina, Antonio Simoes.

Sobre el encuentro, Pinheiro manifestó este mecanismo de interacción es una iniciativa que presentó el presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, durante la última reunión trimestral con su homólogo brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, celebrada en abril pasado en la ciudad de Brasilia.

El ministro brasileño detalló que entre los proyectos en la agenda del taller están, entre otros aspectos, la construcción de viviendas, la bancarización de sectores populares para optar al sistema de microcrédito, la cultura, la industria y la cooperación energética.


Emigration Up, Birth Rate Down

Graying Germany Contemplates Demographic Time Bomb

German pensioners: The country's population is aging.
Zoom
DDP

German pensioners: The country's population is aging.

Germany is already facing a demographic nightmare as birth rates fall despite a slew of family-friendly policies. Now, new statistics show that more people are leaving the country than immigrating -- adding to concerns about the country's shrinking population.

Germans fretting about the country's looming demographic problems are unlikely to have been cheered by recent news on birth rates and emigration. With its graying population, the country's cradle-to-grave welfare system could become unaffordable due to a dearth of working-age people to keep the system going. And the country seems to be failing to either attract enough immigrants or produce babies fast enough to dispel fears of future demographic disaster.

Only two weeks ago, hopes of a government-created baby boom were dashed by the latest birth rate figures. The Federal Statistics Office revealed that despite heavy investment in maternity and paternity pay and other family-friendly policies, the birth rate was actually declining in Germany, with 651,000 children born in 2009, fully 30,000 less than in 2008.


Oasis - Just Getting Older


With an average of just 1.38 children being born to each woman, the birth rate is not high enough to keep the population stable. The aging country will find it hard to secure the tax revenues to support all those pensioners of the future or to maintain economic growth. In fact, demographers expect Germany's population to fall by 17 million from the current 82 million over the next 50 years.

Net Emigration Since 2008

Now adding to the woes are the latest migration figures which show that more people are actually leaving Germany than choosing to make the country their new home. For a quarter of a century, Germany had been a country of net immigration but in 2008 that trend was reversed. The figures for 2009, while showing a slight improvement, are still worrying. On Wednesday, the Federal Statistics Office released figures showing that 13,000 more people had left Germany in 2009 than had arrived.

In total 734,000 people opted to leave the country last year, while only 721,000 immigrated. Although the immigration total showed an increase of 39,000 over 2008, at the beginning of the decade over 800,000 people were choosing to make Germany their home each year.

Most of those who chose to leave were foreigners returning home, with the prime destinations being Poland (123,000), Romania (44,000) and Turkey (40,000). Of the 155,000 Germans who chose to leave their homeland, most favored the US and Switzerland.

There was a slight dip in emigration, with 4,000 fewer people leaving than in 2008. The global recession is thought to have been a contributing factor here, as prospective emigrants know they will have a tougher time securing jobs abroad. Spain, for example, had long been a popular choice for German emigrants but its high unemployment figures are now acting as a deterrent.

'Not Exactly Inviting'

Klaus J. Bade, the chairman of the Expert Advisory Board for Integration and Migration (SVR), argues that Germany has to make itself more attractive to Germans and immigrants alike. He says that many people leaving Germany complain of the "narrow hierarchies in German companies, the poor chances of getting ahead and the lack of fairness in recognizing performance." On the other hand, people in other countries are put off by Germany's reputation for not welcoming foreigners, an image "that is not exactly inviting," Bade told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

Uta Koch of the Hamburg-based relief agency Raphaels Werk, which advises emigrants and returning migrants, says that opting to leave home has little to do with seeking adventure. "Most people find it difficult to leave Germany," she told the Die Welt newspaper. The decision is made out of a fear of unemployment at home, or the hope of better pay and childcare abroad, she explains.

The Green Party migration expert Memet Kilic says that figures show that "our country is no longer so attractive, particularly to migrants." He points to the fact that there are now 10,000 more people leaving Germany for Turkey than coming the other way.

Reiner Klingholz of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development meanwhile told the business daily Handelsblatt that for the economy to make up for the falling birth rates there would need to be "an additional half a million people immigrating per year until 2050 -- and that is not likely."

smd



Geithner in Europe

US and EU Oceans Apart on Fiscal Policy

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner with German Finance Minister  Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday in Berlin.
Zoom
ddp

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday in Berlin.

Europe is eager to begin paying down sovereign debt. The US wants to see Germany and France continue stimulus measures. With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Germany on Thursday, the trans-Atlantic differences in fiscal policy have become difficult to ignore.

The two were eager to demonstrate unanimity. US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and his German counterpart, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, went before the press in Berlin on Thursday and announced that they had reached "broad agreement" on the need to regulate the global financial system.

Geithner also praised Berlin's "leadership role" in putting together the €750 billion ($920 billion) plan, agreed on earlier this month, to help European governments struggling with sovereign debt and said that he is working closely with Europe "to make sure that we are strengthening and reinforcing global recovery."

But the camaraderie displayed on Thursday belied some recent tension in the trans-Atlantic relationship. For one, the US has not been impressed with Germany's recent decision to ban certain kinds of naked short selling, considering it an unhelpful bit of unilateralism.

On a more fundamental level, however, Washington is concerned that, should Europe overreach in its rush to cut government spending, it could endanger the fragile economic recovery that has taken hold on the Continent and around the globe. In particular, the US would like to see countries like Germany and France continue efforts to stimulate their economies.

Rush for the Exits

During a stop in London on Wednesday, Geithner held discussions with his British counterpart George Osborne. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Geithner underlined the dangers should Europe turn away from fiscal stimulus.

Christina Romer, who heads up the White House Council of Economic Advisers and who was with Geithner in London on Wednesday, said that European countries should be wary of cutting spending too quickly. "There is a certain amount of rush for the exits on fiscal policy," she told reporters. The US is hoping that stimulus-fueled growth will ultimately result in higher tax revenues which can then be used to pay down debt.

Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve and an economic adviser to US President Barack Obama, also argued recently that Europe should focus on encouraging growth rather than cutting spending. Referring specifically to France and Germany, he said in an interview with Bloomberg radio earlier this month that "it would help a lot if the rest of Europe, the strong part of Europe ... if they have more growth, that will help these countries on the periphery."

Germany, however, is taking the opposite approach. Rather than take on even more debt to ramp up the economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to set an example for Europe on how to cut spending and reduce budget deficits. Her government is currently looking into ways to make significant spending cuts. Many economists in Europe even view deficit and debt reduction as a key precursor to economic growth.

"Crises often present opportunities, and it looks like Europeans are eager to take advantage," says Michael Hüther, head of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research. "Many studies show that (budget cuts) prepare the way for above average growth."

Oceans Apart

Given the different approaches, Geithner and Schäuble on Thursday were eager to emphasize their areas of agreement. Geithner did not repeat his Wednesday call for a globally consistent approach to fiscal reform -- seen as a swipe at Germany's surprise announcement last week that it was imposing a unilateral ban on some kinds of naked short selling -- and instead insisted that progress had been made on amending the global financial system ahead of next month's G-20 summit in Toronto.

Leaders, he said, were "in a very good position to put in place a much better system than we had coming into this crisis." He also insisted that the US wanted "to cover the cost of this crisis and the cost of future crises by imposing a fee on the largest financial institutions."

Schäuble said: "As far as what could be done or what needs to be done with financial market regulation, we're actually a lot closer with our assessments than it might appear at times."

That may be true when it comes to financial regulation. But when it comes to fiscal policy, Germany and the US are an ocean apart.

cgh -- with wire reports



Developing Desertec

European Dream of Desert Energy Takes Shape

By Cordula Meyer

Can the Sahara Desert really meet Europe's voracious appetite for energy? The Desertec solar power project aims to do just that, but a host of obstacles remain. Overly optimistic expectations are now being scaled down as the project starts to take shape.

When the sun rises and it's still hazy over Andalusia, the future is particularly visible. That's when beams of light as thick as tree trunks and as sharp as lasers slice through the haze. They come together just below the tops of two towers, the taller of which rises 162 meters (531 feet) into the sky, taller than Cologne Cathedral. These light beams are not being emitted by some UFO, but are in fact the core of the most advanced solar power plant in the world.

The towers are surrounded by close to 2,000 mirrors that face the sun. Each mirror has a surface area of about 120 square meters (1,290 square feet) and, like flowers, they follow the light, to the sound of a rattling motor that orients them toward receivers up in the towers. The bundled solar energy, which reaches a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius (482 degrees Fahrenheit), strikes steel pipes through which water is conducted. The water vaporizes and drives a turbine. The facility, known as PS20, is the world's largest solar power tower and generates enough electricity for 10,000 households.

There is not a cloud in the sky on this spring morning, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of Seville. "It's easy today," Enrique Sales Rodriguez says with satisfaction, as the turbine roars and the tower runs at full capacity. Rodriguez, an engineer, monitors the technology from a control room at the base of the tower. He reacts quickly whenever large clouds appear in the sky, making adjustments to the system to extract as much energy as possible from the rays of the sun. Everything is designed to increase the harvest of light. Trucks equipped with large blue cleaning brushes are constantly roaming through the rows of mirrors. "We clean 24 hours a day," says Rodriguez.

Rapt Reception

The solar towers at the Solúcar plant, which is owned by the Spanish Abengoa group, are the most futuristic system the solar industry can offer today. Scientists love this technology, because it is capable of converting so much solar heat into electricity.

Solúcar is a prototype of sorts for Desertec, the 21st century's energy production mega-project. The bold concept is designed to provide Europe with clean, renewable energy in the form of solar power from the Sahara. It has the capacity to avert the energy crisis and stop climate change, while simultaneously combating poverty in Africa. Not surprisingly, experts and politicians alike applauded when 12 companies initiated the Desertec Industrial Initiative last summer. The consortium includes multinational corporations like Siemens, major banks like Deutsche Bank and energy giants like E.on and RWE. They are all eager to be involved, if and when the dream becomes reality.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was enthusiastic, the president of the European Commission was rapt and ordinary people were fascinated. The plan foresees Europe deriving almost all of its electricity from renewable sources within 40 years from now, with a sizable portion of it coming from the Sahara. For many people, the dream is even more momentous than the Moon landing. But, at an almost inconceivable estimated cost of €400 billion ($492 billion), it would also be more expensive.

One day, the plants in the Sahara could provide Europe with 700 terawatt hours of energy a year, more than the combined energy generated by 100 nuclear power plants. At first, it seemed as if the project could get off the ground in no time, with German reinsurance giant Munich Re providing the funding, Deutsche Bank providing loans and Siemens building one mammoth solar power plant after another in the sands of the Sahara.

Huge Expectations

That, at least, was what the governments of North Africa had been led to believe. "Desertec faces a problem, because public expectations have become too big," says Mike Enskat, who coordinates energy issues in North Africa for the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). The people there, says Enskat, "thought to themselves: Here comes Desertec, and they'll be throwing billions around."

But it isn't quite that easy. All it takes is a visit to the Munich office of the Desertec Industrial Initiative to quickly realize that the future is still a long way off. "It's a small startup, a room with eight people in it," says Desertec spokesman Alexander Mohanty. The office is so crowded that he has to walk out into the hallway if he wants to make a phone call in peace. Each of the participating companies pays €150,000 a year into the group fund, the sort of money companies like Siemens or RWE could pay out of their petty cash. Desertec CEO Paul van Son, an affable Dutchman, is the first to dampen expectations. "We're not investors," he says, "and we're not project developers."

What are they then?

"We are an idea," says van Son, "a movement." For the time being, the disciples of light keep themselves busy lobbying the German government, the EU and other governments in Europe and North Africa, hoping to find out what exactly Desertec should be asking for, and what underlying conditions must first be fulfilled to turn the idea into reality. Initial construction plans have also been produced.

Part 2: Dependent on Taxpayers and Consumers

The Desertec companies want to invest, but only if there are purchase and price commitments, and there are guarantees and support from organizations such as the World Bank and climate funds. Desertec will not materialize without money from taxpayers and power consumers. And Desertec is also dependent on the EU countries replacing their national energy policies with a European energy policy. The project will also require finding a way to deal with North African governments such as Libya's, which aren't exactly known as model democracies.

Morocco, in particular, is being targeted for test projects in the next few years. Anyone can participate in the bidding process for these projects, not just the Desertec companies. Once the experience gleaned from the pilot projects have improved the technology and reduced costs, the next bidding rounds can begin.

Even then, Desertec's mammoth power plants, images of which have been circulating in the media in recent months, will still not materialize yet. If the approach proves to be successful and larger-scale construction begins, it will probably not be in the form of a few gigawatt plants. Instead, it is more likely that thousands of medium-sized power plants, financed by large numbers of investors, will sprout up in many locations in the desert. At best, the Desertec logo will be affixed to the plants as a sort of environmental seal of approval. The power plants themselves will be built and paid for by others. "We are trailblazers," says van Son. "Then we'll turn everything over to the market."

'More Realistic'

This is not as extensive a development as many have believed until now, but it is far more realistic, says Fritz Vahrenholt, who heads RWE's renewable energy division. He says that he was troubled by the "exaggerated optimism" associated with the Desertec project, and he is not convinced that Europe will meet a significant portion of its energy needs with electricity from the Sahara in 15 years' time. Nevertheless, says Vahrenholt, RWE now views the project "with significantly more confidence than in the past."

This optimism is fueled by expectations that solar thermal technology could soon be competitive. Experts reckon that costs, currently at about 20 euro cents per kilowatt hour, will be cut in half within the next decade. This would make electricity generated with solar thermal technology almost twice as expensive as wind energy is today (which currently costs about 6 cents per kilowatt hour), but considerably cheaper than the photovoltaic electricity generated by the shimmering blue solar panels tacked onto roofs across Germany, aimed at the country's often cloudy skies.

Nevertheless, photovoltaics is a problem for Desertec, because it consumes potential funding for the project. In the next 20 years, photovoltaics will cost German electricity customers an estimated €100 billion as a result of the country's Renewable Energy Act of 2000, which guarantees fixed prices for renewable electricity fed into the grid -- even though photovoltaics makes up only a little more than 1 percent of the German power supply. "If the money had been invested in Desertec, far more energy would be generated at substantially lower prices," says Vahrenholt.

'Unbeatable'

"I consider myself a photovoltaics pioneer, and I really have a soft spot for the technology, but the government support for it is completely out of control," says Jürgen Schmid, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology in the German city of Kassel. "We are pumping endless sums of money into a technology, even though there are other alternatives that are also emissions-free but are cheaper."

Schmid dreams of the day when Europe can satisfy its thirst for energy with a green mix of wind energy, solar energy from North Africa and hydroelectric power from Norway. This, he says, could be achieved at a price of four to five cents per kilowatt hour. "Then we'll be unbeatable," says Schmid.

Interest in solar thermal electricity generation in the desert has grown rapidly, and massive plants are already under construction in southern Spain, while others are planned for California, Arizona and New Mexico. "The growth curve for solar technology is almost identical to that for wind energy, except that it's happening 10 years later," says Frank Mastiaux, CEO of E.on Climate & Renewables. "Investing in this technology is a strategic necessity for us."

Part 3: The Man Behind the Vision

The Desertec vision was born in an apartment in Hamburg's Blankenese neighborhood. Gerhard Knies, 72, wearing a red plaid shirt and jeans, is as agile as a man 20 years younger. Knies worked as a physicist at the DESY particle accelerator in Hamburg, where he was interested in "what holds the world together at the most fundamental level."

A man like Knies is accustomed to asking big questions, and he loves big answers. The oil crisis and the Chernobyl disaster led him to ponder the vulnerability of industrial societies. He calculated that the Earth receives 10,000 times as much energy from the Sun as human beings need. Today he points to a presentation slide depicting a small red rectangle surrounded by the vastness of Africa, and says that just three-thousandths of the world's 40 million square kilometers (15 million square miles) of deserts would be sufficient to supply solar energy to all of humanity -- which translates into a minuscule area of only 20 square meters per person.

David Archibald - Global Warming & Sunspots explained

Climate change lends new urgency to Knies's ideas. "The continued use of fossil energy is organized crime against the future," he warns. Knies designed conferences and extracted funding for studies from the German Environment Ministry. He managed to convince the German Aerospace Center and the then-president of the Club of Rome, Prince Hassan of Jordan. "I was considered an oddball," says Knies. "When I arrived in the world of solar power, there was an unpleasant atmosphere. People only ever thought about who could get funding from whom."

A Pact with the Devil

But Knies was thinking in broader, global terms. Then he gave further impetus to his ideas when he devised the name, Desertec, three years ago. Knies calls the initiative a "sustainability self-help group, because politicians can't do it. They're simply too slow."

It's simply impossible to save the climate with a few solar panels on school roofs, says Knies. "Global actors" have to become involved, he says, even if cooperating with the big energy suppliers also means entering into a "pact with the devil." This is why the Desertec Foundation was placed under the umbrella of the nonprofit Club of Rome, says Knies.

The organization isn't settling for just solving the world's energy problem. Desertec will provide more than electricity, says Max Schön, president of the German Association of the Club of Rome and the owner of a family business in the northern city of Lübeck. According to Schön, Desertec will also show that "the Middle East and the West, Islam and Christianity can work together." Desertec, says Schön, will create jobs and improve the economy of North Africa, thereby reducing the flow of economic migrants to Europe. And because solar plants also desalinate seawater, Schön argues, Desertec will also put an end to wars over water. The goal now, says Schön, is to convince industry that these are all worthwhile objectives.

Van Son, the head of the industry initiative, has already learned this lesson. He also raves that Desertec will attempt to "bring together peoples, cultures and governments," even those in southern Africa, because they too would want to be part of the project.

Both Sides Must Benefit

Klaus Töpfer, a politician with Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, looks peeved when he hears this sort of talk. As a "strategic adviser" to Desertec, he would prefer to leave issues of world peace to others. He is more interested in clean energy, good business and feasibility. "If it's a project just for Europe, it won't happen. If it's a project just for Africa, it won't be fundable," he says, pointing out that both sides will have to derive benefits from the project for it to be viable.

In Töpfer's view, the power plants in Africa should first of all produce power for Africa. Not only do African countries need electricity themselves, but the cables to Europe don't even exist yet. The German Economics Ministry, which has established a task force to handle coordination between the Desertec project and the government, agrees. According to a spokesman, the first priority should be to "address the rapidly growing demand for electricity in the region. In the long term, however, electricity from the desert will certainly contribute to supplying secure and climate-friendly energy for the EU."

This makes political sense, but it also makes financing the project much more complicated. In North Africa, governments often heavily subsidize the price of electricity. In Egypt, for example, many residential customers pay less than 1 cent per kilowatt hour. This means that investors would have to chip in to subsidize consumption in Africa in order to eventually profit from sales to the north. Under the Desertec strategy, Europe would only satisfy 15 to 20 percent of its energy needs with imported electricity, covering the remainder locally through wind, hydroelectric, biomass and photovoltaic sources.

Nevertheless, solar thermal energy from Africa would be a perfect complement to the German energy mix, because wind, the most important source of renewable energy in Europe, is unreliable, whereas the sun shines consistently in Africa.

Part 4: 'The Closer to God, the Better the Rays'

Heat derived through solar thermal energy can be stored for up to 24 hours with little loss, using a medium such as hot liquid salt. This energy can then be released during the night or when the skies are overcast. This is why a solar thermal power plant, like a nuclear power plant, can cover the so-called baseload (the minimum amount of power that needs to be produced to meet consumers' expected demands), explains process engineer Franz Trieb of the German Aerospace Center. According to Trieb, this makes it more valuable than wind energy.

Trieb, who was skeptical at first, was determined to come up with scientific reasons to discount Knies's vision. "But I was unsuccessful," he says today.

At first, critics warned that shifting sand dunes would bury the solar mirrors and sand storms would scratch their surfaces, rendering them unusable. But these concerns were unfounded, says Trieb. He points out that 80 percent of the deserts are free of dunes, and that the migration routes of nomads would, of course, be avoided. The optimal sites for solar collectors are plateaus far from the coasts, where the sun delivers 20 percent more energy per hectare than in Spain. "The closer to God, the better the rays," says Desertec's chief operating officer, Rainer Aringhoff.

Aringhoff hopes that the first Desertec pilot project could be built near the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, on the southern edge of the Atlas Mountains. It would be cooled with air instead of water, which would be of enormous benefit in the Sahara, but would increase costs by 5 to 10 percent.

Hedging their Bets

Nevertheless, solar energy companies are still hedging their bets and sticking to Andalusia for the time being. Solar radiation is intense there, and the numbers add up. The operators of Spanish plants are paid 27 cents per kilowatt hour of solar electricity. E.on is investing €550 million to build its first solar thermal power plants in the region, with 50 plants slated for completion by 2025.

"We are talking about real projects here, not visions," says Rainer Kistner, head of the solar division of Ferrostaal. The company, based in the western German city of Essen, is the general contractor for a third unit currently under construction at the Andasol solar power plant in the Spanish desert near Granada. The plants operate according to a principle that the Egyptians began using 100 years ago: Parabolic troughs made of mirrors produce steam, which drives water pumps.

Steam is already rising from two of the plant's units. The third unit is scheduled for completion by next year. Workers in a production hall mount the mirrors onto steel frames. Once every half hour, a tractor pulls one of the 2.7-ton troughs out of the building, across the bumpy ground and into the solar field. A crane then hoists the 12-meter mirrors onto a concrete base.

'A Good-Natured System'

Oliver Vorbrugg is monitoring progress in Andasol for the German solar company Flagsol. He bumps along through the rows of mirrors in a silver station wagon, against a backdrop of the snow-capped, 3,000-meter peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains. His mobile phone rings about once every five minutes. His ring tone is a harmonica rendition of the theme from the film "Once Upon a Time in the West," a fitting reminder, says Vorbrugg, that parts of the Western were filmed here, at the base of the Sierra Nevada.

Workers are currently pouring foundations for cooling towers, while technicians are welding pipes together. The greatest possible precision is required during assembly and production, says Vorbrugg, but once the plant is up and running, it will be "a good-natured system," and an efficient one to boot. It will only take about five months for the plant to produce enough energy to offset the energy consumed in its production. After that, Vorbrugg hopes, it will remain in service for another 25 to 30 years.

The salt storage devices are particularly remarkable. Giant silver tanks, with a diameter of up to 36 meters, contain liquid potassium and sodium nitrate, cheap mineral salts that are normally used in synthetic fertilizer. The engineers in the Andasol control room can decide whether to conduct heat from the solar collectors directly to the turbine or into the salt tank. Once the salt tanks have been heated, the power plant can run at full capacity for seven hours using the stored heat from the tanks alone.

Part 5: The Cable Challenge

In addition to such storage tanks, the Desertec project would require cables to bring the electricity to European population centers. The cables would be high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines, which can transmit electricity over a distance of 1,000 kilometers with losses of less than 3 percent.

The longest of these underwater HVDC lines went into operation in late 2008. It transmits power from the Netherlands to Norway, or the other way around, depending on where the electricity happens to be cheaper at any given time. The Norned cable already recouped more than 10 percent of the initial investment within its first three months of operation.

Encased in plastic and protected by a metal shell, the cables consist of copper or aluminum wires with a thickness of 5 centimeters. They are unwound from special ships and buried on the sea floor by robots.

Enormous Costs

The costs are enormous. The 200-kilometer cable that will connect the Bard offshore wind farm in the North Sea to the German grid will cost about €300 million. Some 80 to 100 of these cables would be needed to bring all the electricity Desertec claims will be generated in the Sahara from Africa to Europe.

"Laying that sort of thing through the Mediterranean will not always be economically lucrative," says Jochen Kreusel of the ABB Group, which supplied the Norned cable. "In this case, it is up to society to establish the right basic conditions" so that laying the cables makes economic sense.

A dispute between France and Spain that has been raging for years over the construction of a high-performance cable in the Pyrenees shows just how difficult this can be. Besides, citizens' initiatives are constantly blocking or delaying new projects throughout Europe. "Simply expanding a line in Germany takes 15 years, including all the expropriation proceedings," says Fraunhofer scientist Jürgen Schmid. "This could bring down the entire project."

German Companies in the Lead

Nevertheless, in Morocco, which has almost no fossil fuel resources, Desertec has attracted a great deal of interest. Last year, the Moroccans approved their own solar plan, under which the country, with support from the World Bank, will install 2,000 megawatts of solar power by 2020. The Desertec companies also hope that a country like Italy, which is hardly likely to meet its climate target set by the EU, could reduce its environmental footprint with clean energy from Tunisia.

If the boom does in fact take off, German companies, which are worldwide leaders in solar technology, will be the first to benefit. Giants like Siemens are involved in the business, but so are smaller, specialized companies. Cologne-based Flagsol produces solar control devices, the Bavarian company Schott Solar makes heat receptors for the solar troughs, and Solar Millennium, based in Erlangen in southern Germany, provides project development services. German companies already control a third of the worldwide market for solar thermal energy.

When the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy calculated the projected revenues for German solar companies by the year 2050 under a best-case scenario, it came up with an astronomical figure: €2 trillion.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan