Overview
- Late May reports — the Wettbewerbsreport Ostdeutschland and fresh regional IHK surveys — mark a clear shift from cautious optimism to urgent warning about the region’s outlook.
- The studies identify two central structural weaknesses: private investment per capita in the East ran at about three‑quarters of western levels from 2019–2023, and the number of workers is forecast to fall by about 7 percent to 2035 with local drops up to 25 percent.
- IHK Cottbus and IHK Potsdam say business sentiment in Brandenburg has plunged, with many firms deferring or cancelling investments, rising liquidity strains and roughly a quarter of surveyed companies planning job cuts, prompting warnings of gradual deindustrialization.
- A Civey survey of 1,500 eastern managers found strong interest in renewables, semiconductors and defence but 53 percent reported no positive effects from current federal measures, a gap that is suppressing investment decisions.
- Report authors and regional leaders call for fast, predictable action — short‑term energy‑cost relief plus tax and depreciation incentives, bigger R&D funding, measures to retain graduates and targeted skilled migration — and warn that election‑time political risk could further deter talent and capital.