00:00:00: We're one of the biggest investors in Germany, the EP Group.

00:00:03: And we will continue to invest in Germany and like the German market.

00:00:15: Imagine you were born here in New York... ...you sold French fries in Berlin….

00:00:19: …and then actually served for the British Parliament!

00:00:22: This sounds as if a guy who lived many lives.

00:00:25: so I was super happy when I heard that.

00:00:27: Greg is taking time to talk with us here at Investiode of Folia, and this the first time in English.

00:00:33: Let's give it a go!

00:00:34: It's a pleasure having you here.

00:00:35: Oh thank-you!

00:00:36: Thank-you Lukas.

00:00:36: there's great pleasure to be today.

00:00:38: How come you are so international connected?

00:00:41: how Come, You were born in America.

00:00:43: I saw you speak many languages.

00:00:45: Yeah Well

00:00:46: i think uh...i was born In america really by chance.

00:00:48: my parents Were working out in the united states in The nineteen sixties and My father worked in defense electronics And my mother Was a teacher.

00:00:56: they Worked in United States.

00:00:57: So it's Really By Chance.

00:00:59: i was Born there then.

00:01:00: After that i studied Languages at school.

00:01:02: i loved Languages.

00:01:03: i love foreign cultures.

00:01:05: i Love traveling.

00:01:06: even as a teenager I didn't do too much traveling, couldn't really afford to.

00:01:10: But we used to go to France and Germany.

00:01:12: It was fun!

00:01:12: I enjoyed it.

00:01:13: What

00:01:14: did you learn about languages that helped in other fields?

00:01:17: Since you know so many languages Well i

00:01:20: would say two things Lucas.

00:01:21: First is knowing German enabled me Probably the youngest person alive who uh... Was in East Germany as an adult.

00:01:30: So I went to the GDR, the DDR.

00:01:33: And I wouldn't have been able do that had i not spoken German.

00:01:35: so I spoke to regular East Germans about what life was like under Communism and didn't like what I heard.

00:01:42: That's quite a formative experience for me politically.

00:01:46: Languages help you lot really get deep into culture.

00:01:50: You can always have superficial knowledge but speaking language gets you deeply in it.

00:01:57: On

00:01:57: your path career path you decided to go into politics.

00:02:01: You are the only minister who served for all five different conservative prime ministers, right?

00:02:06: Correct!

00:02:07: Why politics?

00:02:08: Well I think politics is ready for two things because first it's that experience in Eastern Europe...I also spent quite a bit of time what was then Czechoslovakia and now the Czech Republic.... I also studied Czech at university.

00:02:20: so i did couple summers in Prague in the late nineteen eighties when its still under communist rule really like what I saw, you know.

00:02:30: It may be a bit cliched but politics makes the difference if your bad politics end up in a bad situation like East Germany, Czechoslovakia.

00:02:38: And that'll be frank.

00:02:39: I spent a lot of time again in the United States.

00:02:41: as you rightly point out was born in The United States but i returned to the United states In the nineteen nineties and I liked life in the united state's.

00:02:48: I thought free market democracy Free trade all these things were really successful in US.

00:02:54: Ironically they're now under question But at that Time Under President George HW Bush Bill Clinton George W Bush You know That Was The Consensus things, those experiences pushed me into British politics to run for office in the UK.

00:03:10: Could you

00:03:11: just briefly wrap up what your jobs were in politics because we had so many positions?

00:03:16: Yeah

00:03:17: well I was a minister of trade four times as the Minister of Energy and I was the Minister for Budget, Chairman of the Conservative Party.

00:03:31: different roles, all very exciting roles and I served for about thirteen years.

00:03:36: Twelve-thirteen years as a government minister one of the longest ever actually.

00:03:40: Congratulations on that!

00:03:41: Well

00:03:41: thank you Lukas.

00:03:41: Thank

00:03:41: You For somebody like me who has good understanding of politics but doesn't know what they're doing daily.

00:03:47: What were your jobs?

00:03:50: Yeah, yeah.

00:03:50: My jobs were mainly kind of implementation jobs making sure that what the prime minister decided is actually What was implicated and what was done?

00:04:00: So trade we decided to do free-trade agreements.

00:04:03: my job Was to make sure that they happened into oversee the negotiation.

00:04:07: getting legislation through you're getting The new laws through the budget was really an enforcement job Making sure that government departments didn't overspend at all.

00:04:16: I've seen when I was re doing some research on you dead And on one night you lost some sort of vote with only like, one hundred fifty votes missing which was a hit for your right?

00:04:27: How did you take that and how did you deal with the disappointment.

00:04:30: Yeah

00:04:30: well look as it is disappointing but that's politics!

00:04:33: We're a democracy.

00:04:34: And if the people choose somebody else, which they did in my case after nineteen years as their member of parliament You know that's what you sign up to when you go into politics one day?

00:04:45: The voters may say we don't want Greg Hans anymore and That's why happen.

00:04:48: then it was fine.

00:04:49: You just have to move on.

00:04:50: you have to accept that in advance.

00:04:52: No point complaining about afterwards because every political career Winston Churchill said Every political career ends in failure.

00:04:59: But he didn't say every political is a failure in failure.

00:05:03: So eventually, you know, you cease being the Bundeskanzler?

00:05:06: You cease being The British Prime Minister?

00:05:08: You seize being the MP for Chelsea and Fulham?

00:05:11: But it doesn't mean to say your career has been a failure.

00:05:14: How does things that you do in your daily doing or have been doing how does that affect the average Joe like me living here In a city?

00:05:21: imagine I would be UK citizen?

00:05:23: Yeah!

00:05:24: How Does Your Job Affect Me?

00:05:26: Well i think the jobs That are done Have real impact on people.

00:05:29: when I was the deputy finance minister You know, we had a situation where Britain under the previous Labour government of Britain was in a position.

00:05:37: for every four pounds The government spent one pound was being borrowed.

00:05:41: and you know if you ran your finances Lucas on that basis I think he'd be in trouble pretty quickly.

00:05:45: So we have to difficult situations And now it's gonna make it difficult ordinary people because the government is going to spend more on paying for his interest Paying for the loans.

00:05:54: It'll be taken as that made real impact.

00:05:56: I think trade makes them really packed off.

00:05:58: People get better selection of goods.

00:06:00: If you work for an export You can sell more products or services into foreign markets.

00:06:06: I think by Roland's energy minister, we made big moves towards a more renewable energy in the UK and nuclear energy which is controversial in Germany but not particularly controversial in the

00:06:17: U.K.,

00:06:18: France or Italy.

00:06:19: Nuclear is very much part of the accepted energy mix so it may make you real difference at quite high level.

00:06:25: let us say.

00:06:27: If you look back to Brexit No.

00:06:29: Yeah, but how did the UK develop?

00:06:33: Well

00:06:34: I think that...I always said straight after the vote though I was thought Brexit would have a bigger impact on politics than on economics and i don't think the u.k economy really is some controversy.

00:06:44: you know your read different studies about it..i dont' think the U.K economy has particularly suffered as a result of brexit.

00:06:50: in fact The rate of growth for last ten years been broadly similar to Germany or France.

00:06:55: I mean nobody's growth has be good.

00:06:57: so I know they could really blame Brexit I think where it has made a big impact on British politics, the sort of splintering of British politics.

00:07:04: The centre of British policies have splintered a bit Labour and Conservatives both not very strong at that moment.

00:07:10: Chemie Badenock is doing great job bringing the Conservatives back up in Britain but its also led to rise of parties quite far left like the Green Party in Britain much further than the Green party in Germany And the Reform Party.

00:07:23: you know you know, it's not very much in the center.

00:07:27: So I think there is a lot of like political impact more than economic impact

00:07:31: from somebody who has deep understanding about German and British politics?

00:07:35: Maybe how do you see the challenges that both countries are facing at the moment?

00:07:40: politically also looking at economics yeah.

00:07:43: And maybe what's different in these countries?

00:07:45: here they deal with debt.

00:07:47: Yeah

00:07:47: Well i thinks alot of similarities.

00:07:48: More then differences similar challenges.

00:07:51: we're both energy importers.

00:07:53: The energy prices are rising.

00:07:55: We're both quite dependent on world trade, we have similar challenges with an ageing population.

00:08:02: There's too few young people to a few children really and the birth rate is low.

00:08:07: I would say that there will be more similarities than differences.

00:08:10: A key difference in Germany still has strong manufacturing country.

00:08:14: UK is manufacturing strength in specific areas.

00:08:18: UK is much better at professional services some of which might get made redundant by AI.

00:08:24: So I think there are some different challenges, but as said the similarities of bigger than differences.

00:08:29: maybe to wrap things up since we're doing a podcast about investing this is since I saw you're also as like an advisor for a big investor, right?

00:08:40: Correct.

00:08:41: We are one of the biggest investors in Germany.

00:08:43: The EP Group were at Czech conglomerate principally with interests and energy retail and logistics And we continue to omit whole... ...we own quite a lot of energy installations in Germany so.. ..we have been investing in Germany and we will continue to invest in Germany.

00:09:00: we liked the German market.

00:09:01: Just

00:09:01: question for that guy who is listening us If somebody who has also trading experience on the floor, if someone wants to start investing what's a good on the long run a good return.

00:09:15: Yeah, I would start investing quite conservative you know?

00:09:18: I wouldn't sort of run after Bitcoin or the latest tech stocks now.

00:09:22: i would buy something just to get used to it Something pretty regular like a DAX fund Or A Global Equity Index Fund and Just Get Used To It.

00:09:31: And Don't Become A Trader Because If You're A Small Guy Or A Small Woman You'll Get Flattened By The Big People.

00:09:37: So Invest For The Long Term conservative to start with, so you really get to know something.

00:09:44: Always better to invest in something that you

00:09:45: understand.".

00:09:46: So my boss Daniel Krzysztocki when he buys into energy and to retail into logistics... He buys stuff that he understands.

00:09:53: but if doesn't understand it then won't touch him.

00:09:55: And I think for small investors one of them.

00:09:56: If don' t understand it ,don´t invest.

00:09:58: That

00:09:59: was Greg Hans.

00:10:00: If you'd like to listen as well, then I'll find a link in the description.

00:10:05: Greg!

00:10:05: I appreciate your time and enjoy the Ludwig Erhard gift.

00:10:08: I will enjoy it very much

00:10:10: Thank

00:10:11: You.