Then we take Berlin.
A Syrian who arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 has been elected as the mayor of a village in the south-west of the country.
Ryyan Alshebl, 29, who is a member of the German Greens but stood as a non-party candidate, won an absolute majority in Sunday’s mayoral election in Ostelsheim, a small municipality of about 2,500 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
In Germany they can’t afford to stay (energy costs).
In Hungary they can’t afford to pay (baksheesh). Or so they say.
Viktor Orbán Ups the Pressure on German Companies to Leave Hungary – German companies have long been active in Hungary. But now, Viktor Orbán is trying to force some of them to leave. And when they do, his closest allies stand to profit.
To not be counted on.
Don’t thank us. It’s just what we do. Or don’t do, in this case.
German minister expects Bundeswehr shortages beyond 2030.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said the country’s military, the Bundeswehr, will not be able to bridge gaps in funding and supplies by 2030.
“We all know that the existing gaps cannot be completely closed by 2030… It will take years. Everyone is aware of that…”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a special fund to raise €100 billion for the Bundeswehr last year, although this has not yet been put to use. The government last week also earmarked €12 billion over the next nine years to supply Ukraine with newly produced weapons and ammunition rather than from German stockpiles.
Energy price falls spark drop in German and Spanish inflation – Headline pressures ease but investors bet ECB will have to raise interest rates in May.
Some members of the governing council have called for the bank to adopt a more cautious approach after raising interest rates by half a percentage point this month.
The turmoil in the banking sector has also opened up the prospect of a potential credit crunch that could slam the brakes on both inflation and growth in the coming months.
For the handful of people who appear to have noticed it.
Millions of Germans face transport disruption in cost of living ‘mega-strike’ – Monday’s transport stoppages include workers at airports, railways, buses and metro lines.
Because none of them will be running.
You know. Glass half full and all that?
Strike over pay paralyzes rail, air travel in Germany – Trains, planes and public transit systems stood still across much of Germany on Monday as labor unions called a major one-day strike over salaries in an effort to win inflation-busting raises for their members.
The 24-hour walkout — one of the biggest in decades — also affected cargo transport by rail and ship, as workers at the country’s ports and waterways joined the strike.
That means referendum.
You know, like the one Berliners are voting on today; to make Berlin “climate-neutral” by 2030? I think they should hold one on free beer and ponies for everybody too. That’s more realistic.
Berlin votes on climate neutrality by 2030 – Berliners will go to the polls yet again on Sunday to vote in a referendum to make the German capital climate neutral 15 years earlier than planned. Critics deride the proposal as too costly and completely unrealistic.
Why should they be the only ones who don’t?
But…
German companies love America. According to the German-American Chamber of Commerce, around 5,600 of them have invested in the US market. As of September 2022, that’s an investment volume of almost $650 billion (€605 billion). And it’s not only big firms like Siemens, Volkswagen, or Linde that are currently looking to strengthen their commitment to the United States — in some instances, even building entire new production facilities.
Still.
Does anybody watch that Scheiße anymore?
Germans Are Right to Hate All Quiet on the Western Front – The Academy loves Netflix’s pandering war porn. Its homeland knows better.
Take Schlammschlacht, for instance, which means mudslinging or mud fight, and ends with the German word for battle which also evocatively happens to be the root word for slaughter. Schlammschlacht, by itself, is the headline of Hubert Wetzel’s blistering review in the venerable Süddeutsche Zeitung, describing the weather conditions in which most of the film’s slaughter take place, and, presumably, also the filmmakers’ treatment of a literary treasure…
That means to leave, exit, resign. You know, like the ever-rising number of Germans leaving the two once big German Catholic and Lutheran state churches (church tax retained and distributed by the state)? No one can figure out why.
German Synodal Way backs same-sex blessings and transgender priests…
They also voted for the normalisation of lay preaching and also agreed to ask the Holy See to “re-examine” the discipline of priestly celibacy.
Old-time religion this is not. Just roll over and die and get it over with.
