From SuperReturnTV Guy Hands (Terra Firma) and Oliver Gottschalg (HEC Paris) at SuperReturn International 2013 in Berlin. Public impact of PE, particularly in a market like Germany where PE has been a focal point of criticism from politicians. There's a mistaken understanding in Germany among politicians that PE is all about cutting jobs, think investments are short-term and confuse PE with hedge funds. Private Equity can be a real source of creating growth within an economy and Europe is an economy which really needs to create growth at the moment. Dual purpose of doing something good for the social and labour elements that are there in Europe and also beneficial for the target companies One of the advantages of PE is its flexibility and ability to take a different approach to different company at a different time. I was a Euro-sceptic but I've had to rethink and moderate that and see that Europe has some huge advantages that you can't have as an individual country. In the same way, I think that politicians need to moderate their ideology and focus far more on the practical and pragmatic -- how do we all move forward and create a growth agenda? We have the advantage in private equity that we're not trying to get elected so we can focus on creating long-term value and I think it's our job to keep trying resolutely, with a great deal of patience, to get our message across and to work responsibly with unions, with politicians, with local government, with our employees to move companies forward and create growth.