German of the day: Schneckentempo

May 19, 2025 By Hermann Observer in Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Energy, EU, France, German, Germany, Language, Nuclear energy, Renewable energy Leave a comment

That means moving at a snail’s pace.

But at least it’s still movement. In the right direction.

Germany drops opposition to nuclear power in rapprochement with France – Paris wins approval from Berlin to remove anti-nuclear bias in EU legislation, say officials.

Germany has dropped its long-held opposition to nuclear power, in the first concrete sign of rapprochement with France by Berlin’s new government led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Berlin has signalled to Paris it will no longer block French efforts to ensure nuclear power is treated on par with renewable energy in EU legislation, according to French and German officials.

“What on earth is happening with European leadership?”

December 20, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Elections, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Leadership, Socialism Leave a comment

What a silly question.

“European leadership?” There is no such thing. It’s just that now and then little reminders like this pop up in the news. Europe doesn’t lead. Europe doesn’t produce. It redistributes. It redistributes until there is nothing less to distribute.

First France, Now Germany: What Is Going On in Europe?

Germany’s government collapse and imminent snap elections mark the latest crisis amid an ‘uneven’ state of European leadership, an expert says.

None of the experts can figure out why…

June 10, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Asylm Seekers, Borders, Elections, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Immigration, Italy, Migrants, Ntherlands, Political Parties Leave a comment

It’s inexplicable. Why on earth would Europeans by voting for the right?

Something seems to bothering the electorate that we professionals in power have not been able to understand. Oh well. I suppose it’s one of those mysteries we will never be able to solve…

In Germany, the EU’s most populous nation, projections indicated that voters had not been dissuaded by the AfD’s scandals as it rose to 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30%.

German of the day: Blitzschnell

March 24, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts Tags: Football, France, German, Germany, Language, Soccer Leave a comment

That means lightning fast.

Seven seconds? Get outta here.

Germany raise Euro 2024 hopes as Wirtz and Havertz shock France in Lyon – Toni Kroos returned and Florian Wirtz scored the fastest-ever Germany goal as the Euro 2024 hosts defeated France 2-0 in Lyon.

Kroos, coaxed out of international retirement for the upcoming European Championship, wasted no time with a precise pass for Wirtz, who let fly from outside the penalty area to score after seven seconds.

It’s the energy, stupid

September 13, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Economy, Energy, France, Germany, Nuclear power, Renewables Leave a comment

They may beat them in footbal (2-1 last night, without a manager) but…

German economic weakness belies France’s outperformance – Germany’s economic weakness is casting a flattering light on France’s relative resilience that belies the otherwise middling performance of the euro zone’s second-biggest economy, economists say…

Germany’s manufacturing-focused economy is struggling to adapt to being cutoff from cheap Russian gas and the rise of the electric vehicle, said Charles-Henri Colombier with the Rexecode economics think tank in Paris.

Germany’s gas-hungry chemical industry has seen production fall 18% from 2019 levels while in France it is only 8%, Colombier said. Meanwhile, German motor vehicle production is down 26% and only 6% in France.

I See Germany, I See France

January 22, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, History Tags: Anniversaries, Elysee Treaty, Europe, France, Franco-German Friendship, Germany Leave a comment

I see the same old phony song and dance.

Best friends forever! Sort of.

At joint appearances, Macron and Scholz like to ritually reaffirm their nations’ close relations, but so far there has not been much evidence of personal closeness. Politically, too, there is a certain friction at the moment, especially on how to deal with the war in Ukraine. It took a long time for Macron and Scholz to travel together to Kyiv. Scholz has shown himself more hesitant than Macron in delivering arms to Ukraine. On the issue of a gas price cap, Macron even publicly warned that Germany was “isolating itself” in Europe — an affront to Berlin. The two sides are also making very slow progress on joint armaments projects, for example on the development of a fighter aircraft.

German Of The Day: “Keine Deutsche Sonderwege”

October 27, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, Economy, Energy Crisis, EU, EU Zone, France, German, Germany, Inflation, Language Leave a comment

That means no (more) Germany going it alone.

That’s a very popular political mantra here. You normally hear it right before Germany goes it alone again.

France and Germany’s relationship questioned as Scholz goes alone on policy – Germany has been criticized for approving a 200 billion euro ($200.2 billion) rescue package.

Fresh tensions between France and Germany are challenging their relationship at a time when their unity is critical for broader European policy in tackling the energy crisis.

The leaders of the two nations will meet in Paris on Wednesday, but this encounter almost got canceled.

We Not Only Supply You With Nuclear-Generated Electricity Already

October 14, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: CO2, Energy Crisis, France, Gas, Germany, Greens, Nuclear power, Renewables Leave a comment

(just like the Czech Republic). We’ll supply you with gas now too.

France starts sending natural gas directly to Germany – Technical adjustments were necessary as the single pipeline between the two countries was originally intended only to deliver gas (from Russia) from Germany to France.

If you haven’t noticed, Germany’s Green doesn’t stink.

Fun fact for you CO2 fans out there: The Germans generate 10 tons of CO2 per capita per year (some call it the “Carbon Footprint”), the nuclear-friendly French only do 6.

Green Germans Can’t Enlighten The French

January 18, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, Hysteria Tags: France, Germany, Greens, Nuclear energy, Renewable energy Leave a comment

Thank goodness. They remain determined to not only keep using nuclear energy, but to ramp up their program.

The French, for their part, haven’t been able to make clear to the Germans a startling discovery they made a few years ago: Nuclear power is reliable because it produces day and night. The German renewables, well, aren’t, don’t and never will.

France ramps up nuclear power as Germany closes plants in the name of clean energy.

Chancellor Angela Merkel soon caved to public pressure and announced Germany would phase out all nuclear power within 10 years. Her government kept that promise. Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to speed up the phase-out of coal and eventually natural gas. He promises that by the end of this decade, 80% of Germany’s energy will be from renewables. And he doesn’t include nuclear in that category.

Progress

January 1, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Coal, France, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Nuclear energy, Renewable energy, Russia Leave a comment

Living the Green German Dream.

In their Green German Dream World. The Germans proudly demonstrate to the rest of the world how to turn off their nuclear power plants (and their “dirty” power plants too) while simultaneously importing nuclear energy from France and dirty natural gas from Russia to make up the difference.

Germany shuts down half of its 6 remaining nuclear plants – Germany on Friday shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: France