Schröder cuts 'will close post offices'
GERMANY’S postal service joined other parts of the business area yesterday in protesting against government interference in the economy.
Hundreds of post offices would have to be closed, thousands of letter boxes sealed and more than 10,000 postal workers made redundant if the Government insisted on price controls on stamps and other postal charges, Klaus Zumwinkel, chairman of Deutsche Post, said.
The dispute with the Government erupted as Ron Sommer, the beleaguered chairman of Deutsche Telekom, told Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor, to stop meddling with his company, in which the Government owns a large stake. He told the newspaper Bild: “The state should be confining itself to creating the legal conditions for the opening of the economy.”
Telekom’s flotation was the country’s first real venture in popular shareholding and millions bought the heavily marketed stock. Now the price has crumbled, Germans are demanding political action.
Deutsche Post is proving the next testing ground. The Government sold 29 per cent of it in 2000, but has put off selling a majority stake. Government regulators announced price controls on the sending of letters on Wednesday that, if they go ahead, would run until the company’s domestic mail monopoly expires in 2007.
