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It's not only the government, it is also the EU. Almost all of the co-funding you can get as a new businessman is for tourism. An industrial growth in the sout

It's not only the government, it is also the EU. Almost all of the co-funding you can get as a new businessman is for tourism. An industrial growth in the south does not benefit Germany. They need to maintain the primary trade deficit. Plus a country that has 25% or its GDP on tourism, is easily controllable. See the massive campaign that portrayed Greece as dangerous during the 2009-2010 crisis, causing tourism to plummet.

senko 3y ago
> It's not only the government, it is also the EU. Almost all of the co-funding you can get as a new businessman is for tourism. While EU provides the funds and has some oversight, ultimately the government decides which projects to back and which areas in the economy to focus on.
- coldtea 3y ago
  >While EU provides the funds and has some oversight, ultimately the government decides which projects to back and which areas in the economy to focus on. Not really. Such funds come with strings attached, and are tied to general development plans made to benefit Germany first, and 2-3 countries with strong influence second. There's some leeway, but not much - and if you don't go for it, you can see funds drying up. It's not about official channels and equal represenation and such BS -- that's for the starry-eyed naive people who also believe election promises. Those decisions are taken by back-channels, putting favorable people in key decision points (organizations, ECB, etc.). Satellite countries are also used, exchanging their votes on different issues for favorable treatment, billateral agreements, and so on.