The economy is back on track.

How nice that there should be a book fair in 2021 that deserves the name.

How wonderful that a runway is being refurbished at the airport in the hope that the number of passengers will continue to rise.

How wonderful to be stuck in a traffic jam again in the morning on the way to downtown Frankfurt and to feel that the heart of the region is pulsating as ever.

In the first half of the year, the output of the Hessian economy grew by 2.8 percent, roughly like the economy of the Federal Republic as a whole. The industry has long since reached the level before the crisis, if the airport and the trade fair business recover, the hotel industry will also benefit; the restaurants are already living, it seems, reasonably well from the newly awakened zest for life. Maybe the worst is really over.

Even after the pandemic, the economy is not everything, but without successful companies everything is nothing.

Only the capital accumulated there, and only the taxes generated through successful production, make it possible to finance culture, social affairs and all investments in environmental protection.

And so the eyes of the regional economy are also directed towards Berlin when coalition agreements are being worked on there in alternating rounds.

More help from Berlin needed

The Frankfurt metropolitan area traditionally has little to expect from the capital. The financial center suffers from a lack of lobbying by federal politics and from overregulation and still has to fear that at some point a financial transaction tax will come that would drive business out. Air traffic is under pressure, although the industry is doing its best to make machines more environmentally friendly. The criticism of short-haul flights that is repeatedly put forward is, as long as the railroad does not offer a sensible alternative, tends to weaken the Frankfurt transfer hub.

Hopefully, the fact that the Rhine-Main region is neglected when it comes to transport investments is a thing of the past, after all, some major rail projects are now being pushed forward.

In this respect, too, Frankfurt will be looking carefully at which federal state the future transport minister comes from and how he feels about the recently initiated projects.

Whether it is short-term or long-term projects: How the Frankfurt metropolitan area develops will also be decided in Berlin.

May you have a happy hand there for the next few weeks.