Coal exit proposal may create illusory expectations in mining regions

Germany's government risks creating illusory expectations in Germany’s lignite mining regions if it implements the recommendations decided by the country’s coal exit commission as proposed, said Joachim Ragnitz, deputy managing director of the Institute for Economic Research (ifo) Dresden branch. The final report assumes that the federal government is responsible for creating new economic structures, when actually it can set the right framework conditions for private investment at best, he said. Many detailed measures would hardly have an effect on regional economic development and rather reflected the current wishes of local actors, said Ragnitz, and added that the federal government should examine very closely, which measures it will finance.