Entrepreneur Wolfgang Grupp blames politics for rising gas costs. He now pays one million euros a month. That was “unacceptable”, according to the Trigema boss. In an interview, he also commented on criticism of his political statements.
In an interview with the radio station SWR1, Trigema boss Wolfgang Grupp commented on his recent political statements. Trupp recently said that the Americans are benefiting from the Ukraine war and are “controlling everything in the background.”
When asked about this, he now says: “Well, I just read that a lot was promised by the USA when reunification took place. That you allow Russia this and that and that you don’t get any closer.” And then you got closer. “I mean, that’s the question. I can not judge over this. The politicians have to decide who we will now accept into NATO.”
When asked who was to blame for the war, Grupp said: “Putin started the war, no question.” But NATO was “advancing” further and further east. “Many promises have not been kept”. In his opinion, if the promises had been kept, none of this might have happened. When the moderator objected that NATO was not always advancing, Grupp said: “I can’t judge that.”
Grupp repeatedly says in the interview that he cannot judge things, that he is not politically active. But: “You should always negotiate with the other person in such a way that there is no war.” That worked for 16 years under Merkel. And then you have to ask yourself why it doesn’t work anymore.
Watch the full-length interview here.
In the SWR1 interview, Grupp explains the impact on his company: “Of course, gas costs have increased enormously. In 2020 we still spent around 100,000 euros per month on gas. Then that doubled in 2021 to 200,000. And in the summer – in July or August – the gas prices were such that we had to pay a million a month.” That would be 12 million a year. That is “unacceptable”. You can’t transfer that to the product.
Even if you were at 10 or 9 million euros a year, that is “not calculable”, says Grupp. You then have to pay for it from the reserves. He hopes that the high prices will end at some point. “I assume that the war will finally come to an end at some point and that it will be normal again – but that must be corrected by politicians.” Politicians have “allowed this war” and must now also ensure “that the economy is not destroyed”.
Grupp is often praised for the way he runs the company. He himself says: “I’m not a social slave, I’m an egoist. I should be fine. But I noticed very quickly: the better I treat my employees, the nicer I am to them, the better they perform and the happier they work! And we need that. We need togetherness.”