If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed the world’s economic centre of gravity has been shifting eastward. In the 1980s, it was comfortably anchored in the North Atlantic. By 2050, it will sit somewhere between India and China. If you take this at face value, you would think Europe is moving towards irrelevance.

And, sure, if you’re glancing at the headlines, it’s an easy story to believe: high debt, an ageing population, political fragmentation, and — just to really complete the mood — Germany, the economic engine, is spluttering like an old diesel in need of an upgrade. If you’re an investor, why on earth would you put your money there?

Well, here’s why.

Let’s start with Germany. Germany isn’t only a country that builds cars. It’s a country that builds things. Its expertise is in creating and manufacturing, attested by more than 1,000 world-leading companies that represent Germany’s backbone. The same precision engineerin