She is Minister of Culture in Lower Saxony and sees herself privately as a cyclist - the Greens politician Julia Willie Hamburg has recently sat on the VW Supervisory Board for her state. She expected criticism of her. Now she says how she deals with it.
The green VW supervisory board member Julia Willie Hamburg is self-confident after the partly personal attacks because of her new function in the control committee of the largest European car manufacturer. "I will do what corresponds to the role of the supervisory board," she said. It is about advising and monitoring the work of the board - she has no problems carrying out these tasks objectively and decisively.
Hamburg took over the culture department when the new Lower Saxony government made up of SPD and Greens formed a cabinet after the state elections. However, she is not only responsible for schools and education, but was also sent to the VW supervisory board as his co-controller as Prime Minister Stephan Weil's deputy. So far, the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Hanover has usually had access to the state's second seat. Lower Saxony is the second most powerful Volkswagen shareholder.
Some critics denied that Hamburg had the necessary competence to control a global corporation. However, she emphasized that her position on the conversion of the car industry towards alternative drives should be incorporated directly. "A special focus is certainly on the implementation of the transformation process," said the Green politician, who privately sees herself more as a cyclist. "SPD and Greens have decided that we want to accompany the transformation of VW together on the supervisory board. We want the state government to act as one."
She can deal well with the sometimes mocking reactions to her nomination for the supervisory board: "The attacks neither surprised me nor hit me," she said. "The headwind rather encouraged me to take this step." Because VW has "a great interest in sustainability and climate neutrality. In this respect, I bring an expertise that can be very helpful there." During her time as an opposition MP during the previous red-black government, Hamburg had often been critical of Volkswagen's role in China.
The group has numerous plants there - one of them in the western region of Xinjiang, where human rights activists denounce abuse and systematic harassment of the Muslim Uyghur minority. Now it is eagerly awaited how she will react as a controller. Voices are growing louder throughout the German economy calling for a reorientation towards the powerful trading partner China.
