The Eurozone will survive, according to Lutz Görgens, the German Consul General from the German Consulate in Atlanta.

On Thursday, Dr. Görgens led a presentation, “Germany and the Future of Europe,” that comes on the heels of the Greek debt crisis, which has led to loud public protests and an S&P downgrade of Italy.

Despite these economic troubles in Europe, Germany’s economy and Dr. Görgens are still quite optimistic. “Growth remains encouraging in Germany and in German companies abroad,” Görgens said.

He also mentioned German companies such as ThysennKrupp, which built a steel production plant in south Alabama, are adding jobs, despite the global economic crisis

Görgens explained Germany’s success on “flexibility and efficiency.”

When German companies were short on demand for exports and wanted to cut jobs, the German government offered a bipartisan procedure to let companies keep full-time workers at part-time hours for part-time wages, and the government paid the difference, according to Görgens. “The downside was government debt,” Görgens said. “But that is over now, and we have cut debt in many other areas.”

Görgens also pointed out that government investments in renewable energy before the economic crisis helped keep Germany’s economy afloat, although Germany has recently decided to shut down its nuclear plants.

“We think that nuclear energy is scary and we want to eliminate it,” he said.

Germany aims to reach 80 percent of renewable energy by 2050. Görgens added that such a goal is ambitious, but he believes it will increase growth. In Europe, Görgens said that the stock markets have been turbulent because they have been waiting for a big bank solution to assure that other Eurozone countries will bail out countries such as Greece. “But there will be no big bank solution, and there might be continuing roller-coastering in the markets,” he said. Afterwards, students offered their comments on Görgens’ presentation. “I found him to be biased toward Germany, but that’s to be expected because of his position,” said Heather Carter, a senior majoring in political science. “I would have liked for a professor to debate him.”

Despite her disagreement with some of Görgens’ arguments, Carter was hopeful to have more international speakers visit. “I like his outlook that despite all the pessimism in the media, Europe will come together,” said Fabian Fink, a graduate student majoring in German literature. “Having more international speakers gives more perspective.”