A certain Rhenish pragmatism in the spirit of “es kütt wie es kütt” (which roughly translates as “What will be, will be”) and “et hätt noch emmer joot jejange”, or “If it worked out yesterday, it will work out again tomorrow” never hurt anyone. That said, economic success is also the result of good planning on the basis of reliable facts.
The challenges set out for the new decade certainly haven’t grown fewer in number. Three trends, in particular, are set to fundamentally change the economic environment:  • demographics, • decarbonisation, and • digitalisation. All of you here today must perceive change, manage it, and make the right decisions in an uncertain economic environment. But that alone is not enough.