Germany’s finance minister is 45 minutes late — his train from Frankfurt delayed, yet another casualty of Deutsche Bahn’s notorious unpunctuality. A fitting start, I think, since we are to discuss, among other things, the country’s massive spending plan for its derelict infrastructure.
Jörg Kukies, the former Goldman Sachs banker whom Chancellor Olaf Scholz promoted to finance minister a little less than four months before the general elections on February 23, has chosen to meet in a popular Franco-German restaurant in the west German city of Mainz, where he grew up. Anxious, emoji-laden text messages keep me updated on the disruption: this time the result of people on the track rather than under-investment. I reassure my guest that 7pm was too early for a proper French dinner anyway, and that I have ordered the amuse-bouche — omitting the detail that it is strangely described as “French porn”, in English, on the menu.
Mayence, as he insists on calling his hometown, has a strong Gallic heritage, he reminds me after finally appearing and settling down. It held Germany’s first elections after being annexed by Revolutionary France. Napoleon later established his quarters here and even donated a bell to the cathedral. “You see, it’s all very French here — you should feel at home.”