Welcome by Mayor of Berlin

Transcript

Franziska Giffey:So, good morning everyone. Oh, it sounds a little bit tired, to be honest. Yesterday evening was a long evening, right? Do we want to try again? Good morning everyone. Ah, much better. Very good. Yeah, dear ladies and gentlemen, dear Alerte von Massenbach and dear decision makers. of the aviation industry. My name is Franziska Giffey. I'm the Deputy Mayor and Senator for Economic Affairs here in Berlin, and I really want to warmly welcome again to our city. And I, I have seen that you already had the pleasure to visit a little bit of our city, and I hope you enjoy it. And I can really tell you that for us, it is really, really a reason of proudness that the top leaders of the airline industry We are here in our city, and I really want to thank Aletta von Massenbach and all the BER team and our teams to have organized that. We are really proud that all of you are here. So very, very warm welcome to the capital region Berlin and Brandenburg. And as we all know, connectivity means life, business, and cohesion. And connectivity is therefore essential For Berlin, for the capital region, for Germany, and of course for the cooperation world and nationwide. And we all know that the situation of aviation is in a very difficult mood today and in these days. And we meet here in Berlin in very serious times. And for that reason, it's even more important that you are here, because it's important even in difficult times to meet and to exchange and to think about what we can do together. And I would like to say some things about our region, our city here where you are. I mean, you have experienced a lot. And my colleague, the Deputy Mayor Stefan Evers, who was also yesterday here, I heard, has maybe told you something about our city and the region. And I am personally responsible for the economic growth and the economic development here in our city. And for that reason, I would like to tell you maybe about that. Our capital region and Berlin has had a very strong development in the last years. We have an economic growth which is over the average of the federal level. So 13 years in a row, we had a performance which was better in economic reasons and the attempt than Germany's economy as a whole. So we have a growth over the average. And why is that? Because we invest in innovation and internationalization. We do focus on our very strong growing branches, and this is fintech, it is healthtech, it is life science, it is greentech, it is the game sector, and also in these times, the defense and security sector. And we invest in our startups here in the city. We have more than 6,000 startups, a big ecosystem, one of the biggest in Europe. We invest in more than 100,000 workplaces in the startups and the industry and all the service sector, and of course also in the tourism. We have about 30 million overnight stays a year, 30 million. There are only 10 cities in the world who have about 30 million or more than 30 million overnight stays a year. And of course, the big events, Like the Euro 2024, or the NFL last year, or the IFA, or the ITB, you might know, and the ILA, which is going to happen in a few weeks, the International Aviation and Airspace Exhibition. All these events are very important for us. They require, of course, international connections. And because of that, it is for us crucial To have, apart from this big diversity, as a city of freedom, as a city which has different branches, it's very important that the people can come to us, that the people can come to Berlin. And for that reason, it is so important to talk about connectivity. Our dynamic growth is very much connected to the question, how can the city be reached by flights, by international flights, by long-distance flights? And for that reason, it's also the time to pitch a little bit here for you. I mean, Berlin has a very strong history in aviation, starting from Otto Lilienthal in 1891. I have heard that Aleta has already told you yesterday about the history of our airport connection here in Berlin. Of course, the divided city, of course, all the historic events that have had a big impact on the development of the aviation here in the city. But when we look to the future, future, we want to have more connectivity together with Brandenburg, and advocating politically for a competitive framework and a good condition for our aviation industry is very important for us. And that's why we see that we are not just talking about Berlin and Brandenburg, we are talking about Eastern Germany, the whole Eastern Germany, The whole west of Poland, the whole region is reached here. And for that reason, we need you. We need you as decision makers in aviation who really say, okay, Berlin-Brandenburg, that is a convincing region. It is the fastest growing region in Germany. We have a growth more than the average of German— Germany. And of course, We are really tackling all the future issues we have in Europe. So many, many people come here to live here. And when we look at what is happening in the United States at the moment, we have a lot of partners, a lot of researchers, a lot of our transatlantic partners who say, okay, let's think about Europe. When we cannot stay in the United States, we want to move to Europe. Even researchers, the ones who are working in the universities, And when they think about Europe, even the startups, the new innovative companies, when they think about Europe, we say, if you have to make a decision where to go to Europe, come to Berlin. And you know, they come, they decide for Berlin. And when we ask them, why did you make the decision for Berlin? They say there are 2 main reasons. First, The ecosystem is already here, so the ones who we want to work with are here. You can make every business in English, every startup community you can do, the whole working language is English, so it's really easy to adapt. You have a very big variety of research institutes here, you have universities, you have more than a quarter of a million students, you have everything you need what you need to do good business. This is the first reason. But the second reason is, very often, the companies say, Berlin fits to what we are standing for, to our values. And what is the main value? The main value is freedom, democracy, and tolerance. And you can live like you want in Berlin, and you can laugh like you want in Berlin, you can wear whatever you want in Berlin, You can behave— I mean, not in every case— like you want. Yeah, I know. You know, I have worked in a city district in Berlin, which is very challenging. I don't know if you have ever heard about it. It's Neukölln. Yeah, I was a city district mayor in Neukölln also for a while and worked there for 16 years. And we have 170 different nations. Yeah. And most of the time it works quite well. But what we always said in Neukölln is sometimes a little bit rough because also some social problems, but not all. So, and I always said, your freedom to swing your arm ends where my nose begins. Yeah. And this is what we have to make clear. Of course. I mean, the freedom is clear for everyone, but also some parts of you have to respect. what the others want to do. And the question of freedom on the one hand and respect on the other hand is also very important. And for that reason, it is a very good place here in Berlin to invest and to say, okay, bring people to the city and enlarge the connectivity. And of course, and I say that also, I don't know if someone is here today from the federal government, I mean, if you look at our history and if you look on the balance of long-term flights and who is starting from which city, we have a very special situation in Germany, of course. Frankfurt, Munich, yeah, the big, um, the big crossing cities. But I always say, if we want to really be successful, we need good connection and good connectivity from Berlin. That is important, and that's what we are fighting for. And of course, we know it is a very difficult situation coming up with Ukraine, looking at what is happening in the Middle East. And of course, we need to have better framework conditions even for the aviation here in Germany. And that is connected to the reduction of fees and taxes. It is connected with the question of price building. It is connected to the questions of regulations, and it is connected also to the question who is allowed to fly from which city. And we would like to wish that the freedom which Berlin is standing for is also a part of what we want to reach when it comes to the freedom of airlines to decide when we want to start from Berlin, that they can do it. And that is something we ask to the federal government to support us in doing that. And I'm sure there are a lot of people here in the room who support that as well. So, I don't want to make it too long. You know, I will speak today in the German Bundesrat also, because the German Bundesrat is dealing today with the Energiesteuersenkungsgesetz. Very nice word. So, it is the LOR, which is in the Bundesrat, in the German Chamber of the Länder, in terms of tax release for the energy taxes. And this is very, very important when it comes not also to the citizens and the little companies, but it's also important for everyone who uses benzine and diesel and everything which is connected to that. So, I think it's the right track, but it's only the start, and we have to do more to really support our economy, to support our companies, and to bring forward what we are fighting for. So thank you a lot for being here. We are really proud that you are here, and I hope you have a very inspiring day today, good keynotes, and good discussions. And I wish all of you, even in that hard and challenging times, That you manage that and that you never lose your Zuversicht. I don't know if you know the nice German word Zuversicht. It's difficult to translate it. It's in the middle of optimism and confidence and serious Zuversicht means not refusing the challenging issues. But to say, okay, let's handle that, and let's look what we can do together, and we will manage it, because we have managed so many different things and difficult things before. We will manage the situation, Eva. And I've talked before we came together here with the people from the Emirates, talking about the situation in the Middle East, and we have talked about rebuilding the network and stability and safety, And tackling these challenging issues there, and I wish all the people who are dealing with that a lot of success and a lot of power in that difficult times and a lot of Zuversicht. Thank you very much.

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