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.
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.
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…
Into the EU? Even though nobody in the EU dares refer to illegal border crossings as illegal border crossings?
EU got to love it, Europeans. You have no choice. It’s not like anybody is asking for your approval or permission.
German cities struggling with winter influx of migrants from the Western Balkans – This winter, cities in Germany faced yet another influx of refugees but this time it was not Ukrainians fleeing war but people from Western Balkan countries seeking to escape their countries’ harsh winters and poor social living conditions.
The Western Balkan route was, in 2022, the most used for illegal border crossings into the EU, according to the bloc’s external border agency. Frontex recorded 145,600 illegal crossings through the Western Balkan, a 136% jump from the previous year and the highest number observed since 2015.
That German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is a real eager beaver, isn’t she?
She goes on an official visit to India, is überpünktlich (arrives ahead of schedule), and then unceremoniously leaves the plane without anyone there to ceremoniously greet her. Now she has hurt feelings or something.
“She Was A Little Early”: German Envoy On Protocol Row Over Minister Visit – Amid the protocol-related controversy on social media, the German Ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, yesterday said the German Foreign minister’s plane landed early in Delhi.
German of the day: Ein Esel schimpft den anderen Langohr. That means “a donkey scolds the other long-eared.”
In other words, the pot is calling the kettle black.
Germany chides allies for delays in delivering tanks to Ukraine – Defence minister expresses disbelief at slow progress by countries that pressed Berlin for Leopard decision.
Germany’s defence minister has voiced his frustration with European partners who spent months pressuring Berlin to supply tanks to Ukraine but have so far failed to deliver any of the heavy armour themselves.
Winning an election in Germany doesn’t mean you’ve been elected.
That would be undemocratic. Here, in Berlin, the loser parties get back together to form the next coalition government the voters just rejected.
Berlin: Conservatives win vote but unclear who will rule – Voters returned to polling booths across the German capital after a botched 2021 election was declared invalid. More voters picked the center-right CDU than any other party, but its candidate may not get to be mayor.
The Germans have their problems too, the German capital in particular. But in contrast to us Americans, Berliners actually have the courage to them in.
Berlin is peanuts compared to The Banana Republic itself, I know, but its sure got pluck.
‘Dysfunctional’ Berlin holds rerun after election chaos – German capital has been governed by centre-left coalitions for more than two decades.
It’s not every day that foreign observers are needed to monitor an election in Germany, one of the west’s richest and most stable democracies. But then again, Berlin is no ordinary city.
Fourteen officials from the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights body, will arrive in the capital this week to observe Sunday’s rerun of its 2021 election, an event so chaotic its results were nullified: Berliners had to queue for hours at polling stations, which ran out of voting papers and ballot boxes. Some stayed open late to cope with the crowds, when broadcasters were already calling the result.
Because they’re not the right shade of Green. They’re not European Green, in other words.
They’re more of a Greenback shade of Green. And this makes them Green with envy. Or maybe it’s more like Green about the gills.
German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck was holding talks in Washington on Tuesday focused on the controversial US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which foresees huge investments in green technologies.
A large portion of the Inflation Reduction Act, somewhere in the region of $370 billion (roughly €350 billion at current exchange rates), is earmarked for spending and subsidies designed to support the green transition in the US.
For instance, it includes government incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles, but only if the vehicles and batteries were produced either in the US or a country with a trade deal with the US.
Observing Hermann 