But it’s not as convincing as it used to be.
German government shows cracks over nuclear energy – The economy minister attended a meeting of EU states using nuclear energy, even though Germany shut down its last reactor in 2023. The environment minister was quick to insist Germany will stick to its nuclear phaseout.
“There are no further commitments [to the nuclear industry], nor will there be any.”
That means delusional.
Merz ‘delusional’ over US sparing German cars in EU trade deal – Brussels has warned German chancellor not to expect UK-style carve-out for car sector in EU deal with Donald Trump.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz is “delusional” in his expectation that Germany’s car industry will be spared from US tariffs, according to EU officials involved in trade talks with the Trump administration.
Merz has been pressing the European Commission, which manages trade policy on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states, to sign a “framework” deal with Washington aping the US-UK agreement signed earlier this month, which included a special dispensation for cars.
But Brussels officials have privately told Berlin that such an arrangement would not be possible, as reducing German car imports is a big focus for US President Donald Trump, two people briefed on the discussions told the Financial Times.
Something tells me it will be a negative too.
Majority of Germans now hold negative view of Israel : Survey – Israel’s military actions in Gaza and regional aggression have dramatically shifted public opinion: 57% now hold a negative view of the country, while 37% consider Israel a major threat to world peace.
On China.
“On this point, Donald is right — there is a serious problem,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, as she slammed Beijing for disrupting global trade with subsidies to boost its own companies – accusing the CCP of “weaponizing” its leading position in the production and refinement of raw materials used for cars, batteries and wind turbines.
She then encouraged Trump to join forces with US allies to address China’s trade imbalances, rather than punishing them with his own tariff scheme.
“When we focus our attention on tariffs between partners, it diverts our energy from the real challenge — one that threatens us all.”
At least.
Germany: One in four immigrants doesn’t want to stay – Why are immigrants leaving Germany? A new study shows that other countries are more attractive to economically successful foreigners. Discrimination also plays a major role.
“Twenty-six percent, or around 2.6 million people, say that they actually considered leaving Germany last year, i.e., they thought about leaving the country,” said Yuliya Kosyakova, head of the Migration, Integration, and International Labor Market Research Division at the IAB, as she summarized the figures at the presentation of the study in Berlin. “Around 3%, or 300,000 people, already have concrete plans to leave.”
“Debt and precarious stagnation in the EU and Germany” sounds like a good read too.
Europe faces mounting fiscal strain as Germany pivots toward debt-financed spending to maintain political support…
The public has now lost faith in traditional muddling through and demands drastic changes.
This report focuses on Europe, where the economic situation has worsened considerably in recent years. Several countries on the old continent have become more vulnerable to shocks, and imbalances have piled up. Moreover, leaders have demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to address structural problems, yet they are all too eager to haughtily break their electoral promises, swim with the tide and gather consensus through frantic lawmaking in the name of emergencies, fairness and social justice.
That means bunker.
Germany plans to revamp shelter system in case of Russian attack as fears of a major war rise – Fearing Russia could attack another European country within the next four years, Germany is planning to expand its network of bomb-proof bunkers and shelters, according to reports.
“For a long time, there was a widespread belief in Germany that war was not a scenario for which we needed to prepare,” Ralph Tiesler, the head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, said in a recent interview as reported by The Guardian.
“That has changed,” Tiesler said. “We are concerned about the risk of a major war of aggression in Europe.”
Because starting around 2015, the money had to be used for other things.
‘Rust in peace’: why are Germany’s bridges and schools falling apart?
Problems caused by underinvestment are being seized on by the far right as evidence of ‘state failure.’
Or was it the diapers that caused the “hurt religious feelings?”
I didn’t know people even had religious feelings anymore these days.
A performance inside a Catholic cathedral in Germany earlier this month that featured raw, plucked chickens wrapped in diapers onstage — and the country’s president and the local archbishop in the audience — has prompted the church and municipal leaders to apologize that the show “hurt religious feelings.”
The show, “Westphalia Side Story,” was part of a May 15 celebration to mark the 1,250th anniversary of Westphalia, a region in northwestern Germany.
Video footage shows one woman and two shirtless men singing “Fleisch ist Fleisch” (“Meat is meat”) — apparently spoofing Austrian band Opus’ 1984 pop song “Live is Life” — with scythes and dancing with the dead chickens on a stage in front of Paderborn Cathedral’s altar.
Could get you killed.
‘Crazy’ data rules hit German plans to boost army reserve – Reservists’ association says Berlin has lost contact with almost a million potential reservists.
Strict data protection laws are hindering Germany’s efforts to swell the ranks of the armed forces of Europe’s largest nation, its reservists’ association has warned.
Patrick Sensburg, head of the Reservist Association of the German Armed Forces, said tough German and EU privacy rules meant it could not keep in contact with close to a million people who might help boost the country’s reserve forces as it seeks a stronger role in European defence and security…
Sensburg, a former member of parliament from Merz’s ruling Christian Democrats, added that while some might be unwell or uninterested, if even only a quarter of the 1mn agreed to serve it would be enough to meet the target for reservist numbers.
He said it was absurd that the body responsible for collecting Germany’s annual television fee could contact citizens a few weeks after they had moved house, while he had no way of tracking down people whose names were in the association’s records.
Observing Hermann 