The rebuilding of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is 40 years behind schedule – It’s yet another German construction debacle.
Almost 25 years ago, in October 1999, Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s then chancellor, attended a ceremony to mark the renovation of Berlin’s Old National Gallery, one of five world-class museums that constitute the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin. Mr Schröder talked about the courage and vision needed to rebuild the rest of the quintet within ten years. “We will manage this,” he promised…
some of the lowest salaries in Europe, the highest taxes in Europe (if not in the world), the highest social “contributions” (taxes) in Europe, some of the lowest retirement pensions in Europe (unless you’re a civil servant), the highest energy prices in Europe, the highest water and sewage costs in Europe, some of the highest real estate taxes and related bureaucratic costs in Europe, some of the highest rents and real estate prices in Europe and a catastrophic lack of available apartments. I’ll stop there. For now.
So don’t miss out on this opportunity, millennials!
Desperate for millennial talent, Germany launches ‘Opportunity Card’ giving migrants a year to look for a job – Between an aging population and an economy in seemingly perennial stagnation, Germany faces some major challenges. Could a visa aimed at attracting more young, hungry workers be the answer?
Germany is set to launch an “Opportunity Card” just in time for the summer, aimed at young foreign workers hoping either to eventually secure a long-term job or simply work in the country for a while.
Like Germany itself. Germany is unbeatable when it comes to beating Germany. Take German bureaucracy, for example. Please.
Germany is becoming expert at defeating itself – Bureaucracy and strategic blunders are starting to pile up.
In “the twelve tasks of asterix”, an animated film from 1976, one of the feats the diminutive Gaul must perform is to secure a government permit. To do so he must visit a vast office called The Place That Sends You Mad. In a recent open letter Wolfram Axthelm, the head of the German Wind Energy Association, likened modern Germany’s infuriating bureaucracy to Asterix’s challenge. A particular gripe was the 150-odd permits demanded by Autobahn GmbH, a state-owned firm that runs Germany’s vaunted motorways, for transporting outsize components of wind turbines, such as blades. Between byzantine rules on load dimensions, faulty software, perennial roadworks and a lack of personnel to process complaints, a backlog of some 20,000 applications has built up. A company that recently trucked a turbine from the port of Bremen to a site in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein found that although the distance is barely 100km (62 miles), road restrictions made the journey five times that long…
That means “blockade politics” or conducting a policy of obstruction.
Geez. The EU is getting really frustrated with Germany these days because it still acts as if it were a sovereign country from time to time.
Germany Is Becoming a Roadblock for More and More EU Business – Row over combustion-engine ban symptomatic of wider problem, Conduct seen as especially unhelpful during period of upheaval.
The unpredictable behavior of Germany’s ruling coalition is becoming a disruptive influence in Europe and raising hackles across the continent.
A last-ditch move this month to block a European Union push to phase out combustion-engine vehicles was only the latest example. On issues ranging from financial aid for Ukraine to reform of state-aid and budget rules, Germany’s EU partners and officials in Brussels have become increasingly frustrated with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center—left alliance of his Social Democrats, the Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats.
Warning: This is taken from yet another regularly occuring German article about how German bureaucracy is way out of control and somebody needs to finally do something about it but no one ever will of course because everybody here in Germany knows this is precisely the way the Germans like to have it.
Germany’s aging bureaucracy risks undermining ambitions – From immigration to the energy transition, the success of Germany’s biggest economic priorities relies on an increasingly older, paperbound bureaucracy getting its act together.
German call for English to be second official language amid labour shortage – Politician from governing FDP says skilled foreign workers are being put off by unwieldy bureaucratic German.
“When it comes to ordinances and laws, the official language in this country applies for reasons of legal certainty, and that is German,” a spokesperson for the Civil Servants’ Association said.
Like duh. Always has been. Otherwise they wouldn’t call it Berlin.
The street violence in Berlin on New Year’s Eve has triggered a debate on law and order ahead of regional elections in several states, including Berlin. Bavaria’s center-right Premier, Markus Söder from the Christian Social Union (CSU), lashed out at the center-left government in Berlin claiming it could “neither organize elections nor guarantee the safety of its citizens”.
What does it matter that the EU can’t even control its own borders, create a common defense, organise vaccines, agree on a data protection law, control money laundering, unite properly over practically all major issues, agree on one location to seat its government, sanction its own misbehaving members, actually get rid of daylight savings time after having announced it got rid of daylight savings time many years ago… And so very, very much more?
Its bureaucrats, technocrats, kleptocrats and all the other crats mean well and have their hearts in the right place. So, sure, who could be better qualified to place Twitter under direct supervision? Other than Big Brother himself. I mean herself. You know what I mean. Whatever kind of self Big Brother might have these days.
EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official – A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.
“The power of the big platforms over public discourse needs necessary safeguards so that fundamental rights are effectively protected.”
That means existential threat. Like: “The existence of many companies is being threatened by the increased prices.”
German companies are supposed to save gas. But the switch to oil, for example, is being held back by bureaucracy and legal uncertainty.
The German government is calling for gas savings, with the Federal Minister of Economics leading the way – and yet, from the point of view of companies, the government is preventing exactly what it is calling for. Several associations say that it is very difficult for companies to obtain approval for retrofits.
Old habits are hard to break. Especially when you’re on a roll. If you expect COVID, then COVID restrictions there will be.
Germany announces new Covid measures for fall, expecting another wave of infections – Wearing masks on planes and during long-distance travel by train and bus will be mandatory from October to early April all over Germany. Mandatory mask-wearing and the presentation of a negative coronavirus test will apply to hospitals, nursing homes and similar institutions with vulnerable people.
Many other rules will be implemented individually by the country’s 16 states depending on how severely the virus spreads in their regions. This could include the wearing of masks on local public transportation, in schools for students in grade five and up, and at public indoor events.
Observing Hermann 