The German leaders have overcome the Putin shock and shaken off last summer's deep economic pessimism.

Most of the men and women who really have something to say in this country started the year in anticipation of another dry spell, which will end in autumn, or early 2024 at the latest.

Heike Goebel

Responsible editor for economic policy, responsible for "The Order of the Economy".

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The optimism is covered by the order situation, two out of three companies had a good or very good order situation at the beginning of the year.

This is shown by the current elite panel, for which the pollsters from Allensbach conducted representative surveys of almost 500 decision-makers from companies, politics and administration on behalf of the FAZ and the magazine "Capital" at the end of last year.

The increased confidence can be seen in one answer above all: 62 percent of those surveyed now say that the mood in Germany is worse than the economic situation.

"We have reached a turning point," emphasizes Allensbach boss Rente Köcher.

The experienced pollster expects that the mood will soon brighten across the population.

In view of the energy crisis and uncertainty triggered by Russia's attack on Ukraine, it is remarkable how well the German economy is holding up overall, says Köcher.

The resilience stems from the fact that the crisis hit companies very differently.

A little more than half of the top executives from the economy state that their own company has hardly been affected.

Just under half have been ordered by the erratic jumps in energy prices, the other half is unimpressed.

So far, only 8 percent of companies are planning to relocate abroad to avoid rising energy costs.

Nevertheless, the danger of de-industrialization in Germany is real from the point of view of the vast majority of top decision-makers (68 percent) from business, while the majority of the top politicians surveyed deny this danger (53 percent).

One trigger for the deindustrialization debate is the federal government's energy policy, with which almost two-thirds of the elite are not satisfied - although criticism from business is greater than from politics.

Part of the resentment is fed by the traffic light coalition's handling of nuclear power.

Almost 90 percent of business leaders believe that the remaining nuclear power plants have to be shut down in April, and 60 percent of politicians are wrong.

70 percent support the use of fracking, the "unconventional" gas production from shale rocks,

The elites and the population are divided on the question of whether Germany is doing enough to protect the climate.

Exactly half of the panel believes that Germany is doing enough or even too much, for almost them it's not enough.

There is also no majority in the population for more climate protection - large protests, such as those recently against the lignite mining in Lützerath, should not hide this.