SPIEGEL: Mr. Glos, the government is doing everything it can to stall Germany's economic recovery, from raising value-added tax to postponing major reforms. Public health insurance will be made more expensive, and the debacle surrounding the Hartz IV welfare-reform plan is continuing. Meanwhile, the German economy is in fact booming. Do you have an explanation?

Glos: The reason is that companies have restructured themselves and are offering new, competitive products. The parties involved in collective bargaining have also followed a very sensible wage policy -- the trade unions for years have been showing restraint. That's also been good for the country. And finally, the world economy's strong growth is good for our export industries. "Made in Germany" products are in demand from Spain to Singapore.

SPIEGEL: So politicians haven't contributed to the boom at all.

Glos: Yes, they have. The grand coalition has restored people's faith in the stability of German politics and in the security of public funds. That has strengthened the confidence of consumers and investors, which in turn bestowed a lively level of domestic demand on us last year. So the increase in value-added tax was easier to stomach.

SPIEGEL: Germany's central bank and other economic experts predict a long boom. Do you agree with this assessment?

Glos: The chances are better than they have been for a long time. The consequences of reunification have largely been weathered. We've adjusted well to globalization. If no major disruptions occur, the German economy can grow by roughly up to two percent a year. This tendential growth, as experts call it, used to be lower. In the coming years we will be part of the vanguard of growth among the great industrial nations in Europe.

SPIEGEL: What disruptions could throw this country off course?

Glos: There are always risks: the price of oil, the value of the yen and the dollar, wars, imbalances in world trade. But overexpensive labor agreements can also endanger growth. But I'm confident the collective-bargaining parties will continue to keep this in mind, with an eye to what's good for people who still need jobs. If none of these risks manifest themselves, then Germany is headed for a long growth period.

SPIEGEL: Some experts are already jumping with optimism and predicting there will be less than three million unemployed people in Germany in 2009.

Glos: Optimism isn't a bad thing, especially when it's confirmed by reality. I expect the average number of unemployed to be under four million this year. If growth continues this way, then I agree that the number could fall below three million in the coming years.

SPIEGEL: It almost sounds as if Germany had solved its problems. Have we reached the end of reforms?

Glos: Of course not. An upswing is precisely the best time for reforms. We should start by implementing all the reforms we've announced.

SPIEGEL: Yet in the midst of this upswing, we have bad news about a company once considered the classic example of Europe facing up to future. Thousands of jobs are at risk at Airbus. How severely will German production sites be affected?

Glos: The German government has made it clear to all those involved that we want airplane construction adequate to the future in Germany. It's less a question of counting jobs than of where core competencies and technologies will be based in the future. Airbus wouldn't exist without Germany, and so German production sites have a right to appropriate future opportunities within the company.

SPIEGEL: The two CEOs of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS, which owns Airbus) recently visited you. What did you tell them?

Glos: I told them I expected Germany to maintain as much high technology -- including new development -- as France. I'm sure the two gentlemen understood me.

SPIEGEL: Don't politicians, with their constant meddling in company affairs, share responsibility for the way Airbus has started to lag behind its US rival Boeing? Wouldn't the best restructuring measure for Airbus consist in both the German and the French governments withdrawing from the company?

Glos: If all parties were to withdraw, that would certainly do no damage. But that would then have to happen in lockstep. You also have to understand that the states have a natural interest in the company. After all, many of its products have been developed with public funds.

SPIEGEL: In the long run, wouldn't it be better if you settled for the role of junior partner? Then German production sites would perhaps be part of a prospering French company, instead of branches of a Franco-German company in constant crisis.

Glos: There's no reason to rush into modesty. The German-French balance has proven its worth over decades.

SPIEGEL: What role can politicians and the state play in the globalized economy?

Glos: A great one. We're a long way from all decisions being taken at company headquarters. The state establishes the framework within which world economic actors -- that is, companies and consumers -- operate. It fixes the rules of the game and decides, for example, whether companies can research, work and produce under generally safe conditions. Some countries succeed in doing this well, others less so.

SPIEGEL: The same rules of the game don't apply everywhere in the world. The EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson presented a study last week that shows how European companies are prevented from freely operating economically in China -- which causes losses of more than €20 billion ($26 billion), according to the study.

Glos: China has made clear commitments. Within the World Trade Organization we have to work to ensure that equal and fair conditions obtain within all members states. In doing so, we have to ally ourselves with countries that have economic and social orders similar to ours -- such as the Americans.

SPIEGEL: What do you think of Chancellor Merkel's idea of deepening the trans-Atlantic economic partnership and aiming for a common internal market?

Glos: It's a good idea as long as it doesn't conflict with multilateral efforts to reduce trade barriers across the world. To me, the WTO negotiations, the so-called Doha round, have first priority. But a stronger European-US partnership is one way to realize this goal.