(Bloomberg) -- Russian demands in the Group of 20 that countries need to cooperate are a mockery given its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said, blaming part of Germany’s economic troubles on the war.
“We shouldn’t forget where this all started,” Nagel said in Washington on Saturday. “The downturn of Germany started in the springtime of 2022. And we all know the reason why this happened in the springtime of 2022.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year, feeding concerns that energy might become scarce in Europe’s largest economy. While Germany was quick to address that problem, the war has weighed on business and consumer confidence, fed political tensions and revealed deficiencies running deep through the country’s industrial base.
“It makes me crazy when I have to listen to the Russian colleague in the G-20 format and he’s telling me how important it is to have international cooperation,” Nagel said. “This is really not acceptable.”
It’s all the more important now that Germany tackles the challenges holding back its economy, Nagel said.
“We know that we have structural problems in Europe, we now have to find smart ways — and there are smart ways — how to overcome these structural issues,” he added. “We have all the capacity” and “the commitment to come to the growth path that we achieved over the past 25 years.”
It’s not the first time Nagel has waded into politics. He’s repeatedly spoken out against the rise of extreme parties in Germany and warned that a return of Donald Trump to the White House would have a detrimental impact on Europe’s economy.
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