Russia's attack on Ukraine is an attack on everything we stand for
The attack by the authoritarian Russian regime is an attack on the values on which the EU is founded: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. These values were also the guiding principles behind the founding of BBUG after the catastrophe of World War II.
The war against Ukraine causes great suffering, death, destruction, displacement. Our concern and sympathy therefore go to all people in Ukraine.
This is a turning point for the European security order on which our peace, our security and our prosperity are founded. We are deeply concerned about this. We support the reactions of the Federal Government and the EU. These measures will have far-reaching consequences for the western world and for the European and German economy.
In the work of the BBUG, dealing with democracy, its values and its defense has always played just as important a role as talking to those who stand in the way of their enemies. In light of this unprecedented level of aggression, we will address these issues even more.
BBUG – Baden-Baden Entrepreneurs' Talks
We seek to support those at the helm of companies today and tomorrow in embracing their overarching and wide-ranging responsibility for their companies, business and society. At BBUG “embracing responsibility” means both discerning it and readily living it.
"The really pressing issues do not require an agenda, but new approaches to tackling them and new visions. The question 'What is relevant?' doesn't mean 'What can we omit?', but 'What else ist there? What does it relate to? What is concealed behind the obvious?'."
(Erwin Lotter, brandeins 3/12)
“As always with your sessions I thoroughly enjoyed the day in Baden-Baden. The participants were highly interested and the atmosphere was one of complete open-mindedness, something I rarely encounter. Much of this is down to you and your ability to foster a real dialog between the invited guests and the corporations. While I sometimes despair when listening to the news about the major banks and ‘capital’, at your BBUG I encounter entrepreneurs whom I wish were at the helm of the market and the economy.”
Prof. Wolfgang Eichwede (University of Bremen, Research Centre for East European Studies, Founding Director, speaker at the 131th BBUG session)
BBUG – Baden-Baden Entrepreneurs' Talks
We seek to support those at the helm of companies today and tomorrow in embracing their overarching and wide-ranging responsibility for their companies, business and society. At BBUG “embracing responsibility” means both discerning it and readily living it.
“Grooming the next generation of leaders within companies is impaired by the extraordinary workload, the pace of daily business and the natural fact that attention tends to be focused on one’s own firm. As a result there is a lack of opportunities to consider the bigger picture and discuss questions of principle, to enjoy the peace and quiet to rise above the daily hustle-and-bustle and concern oneself more emphatically with ‘enterprises tomorrow’, the entrepreneur’s position vis-à-vis the workforce, the economy as a whole and the general public.”
(From the deed of foundation of BBUG sent to leading representatives of German industry and business, 1955)