Pierre-André de Chalendar knows better than most what needs to be done to get Europe’s economy motoring again: for the chief executive of Saint-Gobain, the French conglomerate that serves some of the world’s hardest-hit markets in 57 countries, Germany holds the key.

The European country will “play a key role in the relaunch of Europe’s economy. People believe that they have made more effort than other countries and that now they are being asked to do even more to help everyone else. But Germany needs to launch a plan to help Germany,” he says.