DRESDEN (dpa-AFX) - Against the backdrop of job cuts at Volkswagen in Zwickau, Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer has expressed concern about emigrating workers. "Everything that now migrates abroad will be there for 10 or 20 years and will not come back," the CDU politician said in an interview with the "Freie Presse" newspaper (Saturday). If a significant part of the industry breaks away, the rest can collapse like a house of cards, he added.

The background to this is Volkswagen's planned job cuts at its Zwickau plant. The automotive group wants to cut jobs due to weakening demand for its e-cars and not renew nearly 270 employees' contracts that will soon expire. The issue caused quite a stir in recent days when Kretschmer hinted at the job cuts even before the official announcement at a regional conference of the CDU in Riesa.

In addition, the Minister President was initially skeptical about whether the company had relied too heavily on a boom in electromobility.

Just under a week later, Kretschmer rowed back slightly. In an interview with the "Freie Presse," he says: "Zwickau as the lead plant for electromobility is a huge advantage: the latest technologies are developed and manufactured here." This makes the location future-proof, he adds. "Colleagues at Volkswagen are unsettled. There will be fewer shifts and therefore fewer people working there." But things will also pick up again, he added./djj/DP/he