Category: Finance
Deutsche Bank reports best quarterly result since 2015
Deutsche Bank is on the up. Since the beginning of 2021, it has achieved the best quarterly result in seven years, posting a profit of 908 million Euros by the end of March. Income climbed to 7.2 billion Euros. This corresponds to an increase of…
Greens spokeswoman warns of a longer moratory of bankruptcy applications
Katja Keul, legal policy spokeswoman for the Green parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, has warned that a further suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency could endanger other market participants. Should the suspension to apply be extended beyond the end of April, this…
Heil specifies further financial aid plans for the cultural sector
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has promised cultural workers that they can continue to receive Corona financial aid from the Federal Government. Merkel’s Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) announced that if self-employed people, including artists, make small profits, they should not lose their insurance cover in…
SPD calls for package to help children and young people
The SPD has called for a 2 billion Euro package to be put together for needy children and young people, as part of the help for those affected by the Corona pandemic. The latter are particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The package can be…
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….
Fewer companies report bankruptcy
The number of company bankruptcies fell to its lowest level since 1999 in 2020. As the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced, only 15,841 companies – 15.5 percent less than 2019 – filed for bankruptcy last year. In general, due to the Corona pandemic, the…
Additional help for particularly affected companies
The Federal Government would like to pay out an equity grant to companies that are hit very hard by the Corona crisis and which submit a corresponding application. In this way, the substance of the companies should be strengthened directly. Apart from that, the so-called…
Germany grants Syrian populations 1.7 billion Euros
The German government is providing around 1.7 billion Euros for humanitarian aid to civilian populations in need in Syria. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced this at an international donor conference. The situation in Syria, a country struck by civil war, is catastrophic, he deplored,…
Agreement on EU agriculture reform
The federal as well as the state ministers of agriculture have agreed on steps to implement the EU agricultural reform in Germany. The relevance of environmental requirements will be 25 percent in the future, after financial aid has so far been determined by the size…
Delay in anti-racism and anti-Semitism projects
Various departments at federal level have refused to sign a final report of the federal cabinet, due to a lack of funds. After the anniversaries of the right-wing extremist attacks in Halle and Hanau, specific projects against racism and anti-Semitism are blocked for the time…
Scholz for “citizens’ money” instead of Hartz IV
The SPD’s candidate for chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has proposed replacing the basic security, also known as Hartz-IV, with a new type of citizen’s benefit. Conditions should no longer be based on “distrust” of the social welfare offices; some sanctions should be abolished for Hartz-IV beneficiaries…
Union parties criticize SPD plans for wealth tax
The Union parties have criticized the calls by Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz for tax increases, which the latter, SPD candidate for the office of Chancellor, wants to raise for high earners and the wealthy. “Behind Olaf Scholz’s Robin Hood rhetoric lies a program against…
EU Commission wants to see elimination of roaming charges extended
The EU Commission has spoken out in favor of cutting roaming charges in the EU for another ten years. Consumers in EU countries others than their own should use the same telephone quality and data speed for which they have concluded contracts, at no additional…
Scholz wants higher taxes for strong earners
The candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), wants to push through tax increases for high earners and wealthy people after the upcoming Bundestag election. The citizens want a fairer tax system, said Scholz. Those who have a lot of income should make a bigger contribution…
AfD to pay half a million in fines for illegal donations
The AfD has to pay more than half a million Euros in fines after having received donations of over 130,000 Euros from Switzerland. According to the law, political parties are prohibited from booking donations from abroad. The AfD replied that they did not understand the…
The poverty rate in Germany is at 15.9 percent
The poverty rate in Germany, with 13.2 million people concerned, is at 15.9 percent of the total population and has thus reached the highest level since German reunification. Measured by the number of inhabitants, there were highs around Bremerhaven and Bremen, at over 24.5 percent….
Better funding for electric vehicles
The Federal Ministry of Economics has launched an improved state subsidy for the purchase of electric cars in Germany. The directive stipulates that the amount of funding depends on the purchase price of the vehicle. This means that there is less funding for models from…
Bridging aid for companies started
The Federal Government has launched an aid program to help companies during the Corona crisis and to get the economy going. For three months up to and including August, it will be possible for companies and the self-employed to receive grants at their fixed costs….
Tax relief for disabled people
Disabled people will receive tax relief from the Federal Government. The tax lump sum for disabled people increases from 3700 Euros to 7400 Euros. It is credited to the tax return without any individual evidence. The relevant law is to be passed before the end…
Bridging aid for students
In order to ensure a sufficient income for students, the Federal Government will provide a bridging aid that is intended to help students living alone, who otherwise make about a third of their monthly income through jobs. Of the average monthly income of EUR 1060,…
Union confederation calls for basic child protection
The German Federation of Trade Unions has called for a unified basic child protection. So far, there are separate financial posts: child benefit, tax allowances, surcharges and Hartz IV benefits. These should be replaced and converted into one payment, which consists of a basic amount…
Bund takes share in CureVac
The federal government takes a share in CureVac in order to promote the development of a vaccine against the Coronavirus. As Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier announced, the KfW development bank is taking over around 23 percent of the shares in the biotech company…
Klöckner for more reasonable prices for meat products
Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner (CDU) has strongly advocated that those responsible in the meat industry should remedy possible maladministration in production. After an industry meeting in Düsseldorf with animal owners, meat processing companies, the meat trade, animal and consumer protection groups, Klöckner said…
Covid-19: donor conference successful
The international donor conference for vaccines and treatments against the Coronavirus has been successful. There were pledges of aid of 6.15 billion Euros of aid, which will be given out as loans and guarantees. 383 million Euros stem from Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said in…
Bayer reaches settlement over Glyphosate
The pharmaceutical company Bayer has reached a settlement in the legal dispute over Glyphosate, a weed killer. Bayer is committed to paying up to 10.9 billion USD to settle ongoing cases, and future cases, should these occur. The agreement brings about the resolution of three-quarters…