Month: April 2021
Volkswagen reaches agreement with trade union
The employees of the car manufacturer Volkswagen will receive a Corona bonus of 1000 Euros each in June, as well as a salary increase of 2.3 percent from 2022. IG Metall and Volkswagen agreed on this. The collective agreement for 120,000 employees is valid for…
Merkel and Macron welcome Chinese climate targets
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have welcomed the People’s Republic of China’s goals of achieving CO2 neutrality before 2060. In a digital conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Xi said, according to Chinese state television, that cooperation with Germany and France would…
Attacks on refugees remain highly concerning
There were at least 1,606 attacks on refugees and asylum seekers in Germany last year. This results from a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from the Left Party in the Bundestag. The figures are preliminary. According to official information,…
Left party “wants” to end foreign deployments
In a draft of its election manifesto, the Left Party has shown that it is willing to compromise with regard to the Bundeswehr missions abroad. Instead of a clear ‘No’ to foreign missions, it is now said that the Left “wants” to end such missions….
Reason to observe the ‘Lateral Thinker’ movement
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) expects the ‘Lateral Thinkers’ movement to be observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Violence emanating from the scene had increased, derailments within the movement are repeated, and extremists are becoming spokesmen at the demonstrations,…
Altmaier expects a quick economic recovery
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) assumes that the German economy will recover quickly after the end of the Corona pandemic. The situation is robust, he said, adding that the recovery will accelerate from the middle of the second quarter. Altmaier expects growth of…
Bundestag strengthens the rights of indigenous peoples
The Bundestag has passed a law based on an international agreement, strengthening the rights of indigenous peoples. With the exception of the AfD, all members of the Bundestag parliamentary groups voted for the bill. Convention 169 of the signatories of the International Labor Organization guarantees…
Improvements for cyclists thanks to new traffic plan
The Federal Cabinet is working to ensure that Germany becomes a “cyclist country,” in the long run. Cycle paths are to be expanded in both urban and rural areas. Metropolises are to be connected by high-speed bike paths. Commuters, for example, could benefit from this….
Laschet or Söder: Union candidate for Chancellor by vote?
by Thorsten Koch Possibly, the CDU and CSU parliamentary group will vote in the coming week on whether Armin Laschet (CDU) or Markus Söder (CSU) will run as candidate for German Federal Chancellor for the Union parties, the ‘Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland’ reported. The Hamburg CDU regional…
Merkel for a quick implementation of the Corona emergency brake
by Thorsten Koch Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a faster implementation of the Corona emergency brake, which is to be valid throughout Germany, and warned against overstressing the German health system. In the Bundestag she said: “The situation is serious, very serious.” The third…
Union parties’ candidate for Chancellor: decision expected this week
by Thorsten Koch The decision as to who will be the CDU-CSU’s candidate for Chancellor could be made this week. This was agreed upon by CSU chairman Markus Söder and CDU chairman Armin Laschet. The two had previously spoken in front of about 250 CDU…
Towards an “emergency brake” against the third Corona wave
by Thorsten Koch The third wave of the corona pandemic is “perhaps the toughest for us,” Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned. Merkel hopes for tests and vaccinations in order to effectively combat the infections. In particular, vaccination is suitable to break the wave, said Merkel….
