"We are proud of these meetings because they are a great showcase for Germany as a centre of science as well as for the culture of dialogue we cultivate here," emphasised the Chancellor in her speech. She pointed out that science thrives on this form of dialogue.

And she stated that “academics and politics have something in common: Both of them consistently pursue objectives that go beyond the individual”, noted Merkel. However, she stated that there are significant differences as well: "In the case of academics, freedom of research and teaching are first and foremost and the task of politics is rather to provide direction and leadership for society as a whole. Politics always requires that decisions be made."

Providing policy guidelines

The Chancellor also expressed her expectations: She would hope that science accepts the challenge of creating bridges between theory and practice on an ongoing basis and provides guidelines to policy-makers.

"One should also be honest enough to indicate error rates or uncertainties if the matter is not entirely clear." Sometimes this helps to avoid disappointments.

Federal Chancellor Merkel has been a member of the Honorary Senate of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Foundation since 2007. This is her first time attending the meetings which have been held at Lake Constance in order to promote dialogue between scientists since 1951 and which have addressed economic issues since 2004. Amongst other topics, Merkel discussed the attractiveness of Germany as a centre of study and science with young economists from 13 countries. Perspectives for young scientists were also a topic of discussion.

Politics wants to act

Politics wants to do more than simply react but rather wants to act. This means “taking a proactive path to development”, the Federal Chancellor stressed in her speech. Accordingly, one must learn from the crises in the recent past.

She addressed the crisis in the financial markets which quickly become a crisis within the Eurozone. Merkel indicated three causes which must be addressed in order to avoid the occurrence of another such crisis.

"First: We must remedy structural defects in the economic and monetary union. Second: We have what you might call troubled assets in the form of very high sovereign debt levels. Third: We have banking systems which on the whole have too many problems and too little transparency."

All of these issues have been addressed in the past but this work must continue. Referring to the banking system, Merkel noted that there has been a real quantum leap. "We are working on a European banking union with common supervision through the European Central Bank and a clear bail-in sequence," noted Merkel.

Government actions target quality of life

The Federal Chancellor stated that during this legislative period in particular, government action was focused on the issue of good quality of life. In this context, the Federal Government is interested in getting an even better idea of the citizens’ perception of a good quality of life. This will be used to develop a system of indicators which policy-makers may use as a frame of reference.

5th Lindau Meetings: Between 20 and 20 August, Nobel Prize Laureates and young academics will have numerous opportunities to join in a lively exchange of ideas. The primary question is: How useful are the economic sciences - how are the economic sciences useful? Amongst other topics, discussion will address the unequal distribution of wealth and poverty in the world. Other lectures and panel discussions will address economic sciences such as econometrics and games theory. Risks within the financial system and their measurement will be addressed by the economists as well.