Guest article in Handelsblatt: “What drives a trade association into the arms of the AfD?”

This is because the party does not offer any constructive solutions to the current economic challenges. Instead, its pension policy would drastically increase non-wage labour costs, its migration policy would keep urgently needed skilled workers away, and its EU and foreign policy would scare off our most important trading partners.

So what is driving the business association to make this decision? Christian Böllhoff writes in a guest article: “When nothing seems to be working anymore, people tend to become irrational.”

After the federal elections, there was a noticeable spirit of optimism, but after only six months, this has turned into the opposite. This is because many companies are under enormous pressure due to global and technological transformations. They are also suffering from poor business conditions: taxes, excessive bureaucracy, energy costs, non-wage labour costs, and a shortage of skilled workers. According to Böllhoff, German competitiveness is at risk.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are particularly affected: unlike larger companies, smaller firms have too few resources to cope with the problems. According to Böllhoff, there must be a feeling of powerlessness among SMEs.

In his guest article, he calls for:

• Associations to keep a cool head: SMEs should be able to expect association leaders to represent their interests with constructive expertise. Böllhoff considers it dangerous for business associations to react emotionally as well. Every association must realise that it has nothing to gain from discussions with the AfD and that the AfD is not in a position to improve the situation.
• A game plan from the federal government: The federal government must address the identified structural problems more quickly, clearly and honestly. Because things cannot continue as they are at present.
• Corporate responsibility from the business community: By turning away from established political parties, small and medium-sized enterprises are putting at risk the very thing they depend on for their livelihood: the social market economy.

Links and downloads

To the guest article in Handelsblatt (in German)

Read the full guest article (PDF, in German)

Last update: 11.12.2025