Latest news with #FrankfurterAllgemeine
Bloomberg
31-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Russian Assets Deserve Closer Look, German Official Tells FAS
The European Union should revisit the question of how hundreds of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets can be used to finance Ukraine, a top German official said. 'We should look at the issue of Russian state funds much more closely than we have been doing,' Chancellery head Thorsten Frei said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Saturday. 'We must not allow Russia to get away with the game it's playing with us all.'
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
To ban or not to ban AfD? German democracy at a crossroads
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The news "hit Berlin like a bombshell", said Friederike Haupt in Frankfurter Allgemeine. After a year-long investigation, Germany's domestic intelligence agency has officially designated the Alternative for Germany (AfD) a right-wing extremist organisation, paving the way for the government to ban the second-largest party in the Bundestag. The AfD's open pitting of "real Germans" vs. "passport Germans", said the agency in a leaked 1,108-page dossier, violates the constitution by making "ethnic ancestry the definition of nationality". It also detected a "solidified xenophobic attitude" among AfD leaders, such as its co-chair Alice Weidel, who has railed against migrants "from [alien] cultures prone to violence... in Africa and the Middle East". You don't need "a magnifying glass to find extremist ideas in the AfD", said Marcus Rubin in Politiken (Copenhagen). It "openly advocates discrimination based on ethnicity, and numerous members have downplayed the Holocaust". One former leader called the genocide of six million Jews a "blip". Yet Germany's mainstream parties need "to defeat right-wing extremism at the ballot box, not in the courts", which would only damage faith in German democracy. The agency has now paused its designation pending a court ruling on the issue, said Hansjörg Friedrich Müller in the Aargauer Zeitung (Aarau), leaving new chancellor Friedrich Merz with a dilemma. The CDU leader can either ignore the calls for a ban, and "live with the accusation that he is taking the threat too lightly". Or he can initiate proceedings against the AfD, who now regularly top nationwide polls, and polarise an already deeply divided country. And it's only his first week in the job. A ban would be fruitless, said Michael Hanfeld in Frankfurter Allgemeine. It could take years; and even if we did eliminate the AfD, the issues that led to its rise won't "disappear" into thin air. As long as uncontrolled immigration exists, so will the far-right; "anything else is magical thinking". And remember, the "vast majority" of the AfD's supporters aren't Nazis, said Michalis Psilos in Naftemporiki (Athens). "They are citizens who no longer trust the ability or even the will of the traditional parties to solve the big problems." Germany's mainstream parties need to prove them wrong. If only things were that simple, said Stefanie Witte in Tagesspiegel (Berlin). It's an "illusion" to think that all we have to do is make better policies, "and voters will react rationally and objectively"; the anti-establishment feeling in today's politics is far too strong for that. Right now, Germany is hurtling down a very dangerous path. We're witnessing the rise of a party intent on destroying German democracy itself. The AfD has openly expressed "contempt for the rule of law, courts, democratic institutions and their representatives". If allowed into power, it will only be a matter of time before the German constitution "fails". The time for a ban "is now" – before it's too late. The impulse to do this is quite understandable, said Malte Lehming in the same paper. But how would that make us any different from the Nazis? They banned political parties, and removed fundamental rights. When we vowed "never again", those were some of the mistakes we vowed not to repeat. You've got to feel for Merz, said Clay Risen in The New York Times. He has already had an incredibly rocky start as chancellor: he needed two attempts to secure the votes for his approval, an unprecedented situation that has put a serious dent in his credibility. Now he faces a daily battle against the "politically toxic" AfD. As the leading opposition party in the Bundestag, they have the power to make his life a misery, and with a majority of just 12 members, Merz needs to work out how to offset their influence and push through his own agenda. "As parliament settles into a new, uncomfortable normal and as rifts inevitably open among the coalition", the temptation to work with the AfD will grow. Will Merz be able to resist?
Local Germany
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Local Germany
How is Germany responding to Kanye West's 'Heil Hitler' single?
US-born rapper Kanye West (who goes simply by 'Ye' since 2021) has managed to hit the headlines once again, stirring up fresh controversy and accusations of rampant antisemitism with the lyrics of his latest track. Ye's new hit single, titled 'WW3', repeats the phrase 'Heil Hitler' over and over again. It also mentions 'rockin' swastikas…' and reading two chapters of Mein Kampf (Hitler's infamous autobiography) ' before I go to sleep'. Railing against the lyrics of the track, the Frankfurter Allgemeine wrote that Ye has 'openly expressed his enthusiasm for National Socialism'. The Jüdische Allgemeine, a weekly newspaper focused on Jewish life in Germany, added that Ye has been at the centre of several scandals for his antisemitic speech previously. Starting at the end of 2022 he had said he admired Hitler and also denied the Holocaust, also a couple weeks ago he wrote on social media, 'I am a Nazi'. 'Banned' content Nazi symbols and speech are strictly prohibited in Germany. Using the phrase 'Heil Hitler' would in most cases be deemed as an act of hate speech. The public display of Nazi symbols or the use of Nazi slogans is a criminal offence in Germany, and can be punished with hefty fines or even imprisonment of up to three years. READ ALSO: FACT CHECK - Are people punished for using Nazi slogans in Germany? What are the rules around showing the 'Nazi salute' in Germany? In one recent case, Björn Höcke, an Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician, was charged for using a known Nazi slogan at a political rally and was fined €13,000 . But though many of its tropes glorifying the Nazis are illegal under German law, enforcing a ban on Kanye's track appears to be next to impossible. Reportedly music streaming platforms like Spotify, Youtube and Soundcloud have tried to block the content due to its antisemitic nature. However, when The Local checked at time of publication the track was still found on Spotify on a device in Germany. Advertisement Also, various clips of the song and its music video have been shared across social media sites, which moderate content to varying degrees and with varying levels of success. Ye's video cannot be directly seen on his X profile from Germany. The rapper had previously been blocked multiple times on X for antisemitic content, but since Elon Musk took over as CEO of the platform he has remained active there. He also recently lost a contract with German company Adidas due to his antisemitic outbursts on social media. Mixed reactions Considering how explicit the lyrics to WW3 are, reactions to the song in online discourses are mixed. As has been the case in many of the scandals Ye has been at the heart of, certain fans can't be convinced that he means exactly what he has said. "You judge the lyrics, but you should enjoy the vibe instead," read one online comment reported by the Jüdische Allgemeine. Advertisement Similarly, a report by t-online noted stark contention between fans with different views – with one fan commenting 'Ye forever, protect us' and another writing 'Wake up, Mister West!' One thing is certain: Ye's success seems to be directly linked to his ability to spark controversy. 'WW3' has already gained millions of streams and moved to the top of 'top 50' charts in several countries including Germany, Israel and the US.
Russia Today
08-05-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
German companies assume responsibility for Nazi rise to power
Dozens of Germany's most prominent enterprises have assumed responsibility for allowing Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler to rise to power. In a letter published in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the corporations, including Siemens, Uniper and Volkswagen, have admitted that their forebearers' greed and silence contributed to Nazi crimes. 'The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 would have been unthinkable without the failure of the decision-makers of the time in politics, the military, the judiciary, and the economy,' said the collective statement marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the WWII in Europe. Many German companies 'contributed to consolidating the Nazi rule' and were 'complicit' in the Third Reich's crimes as they were solely driven by the desire to make profit, the document added. The list of signatories included a total of 49 brands, including Adidas, Bayer and BMW, as well as several major German banks, the national railway operator Deutsche Bahn, and the Lufthansa airlines. The companies stopped short of taking direct responsibility for the crimes of their predecessors and said instead that they 'assume responsibility for making the memory of the crimes of the Nazi era visible.' 'In 1933 and beyond, too many remained silent, looked away,' the companies said, adding that this past silence 'imposes responsibility… for the past, the present and the future' upon them. The enterprises then vowed to 'stand against hatred, against exclusion, and against anti-Semitism' and called for the 'achievements' made by the EU after the end of the Cold War to be protected. The murky Nazi-era history of the biggest German corporations and families that largely control them has repeatedly appeared in the media. Back in 2022, former Bloomberg journalist David de Jong released a book titled 'Nazi Billionaires', which detailed the ties of companies such as Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW to the Third Reich. According to the book, Germany's biggest automakers are still controlled by families that profited from Nazi rule. Some of their holdings include American brands ranging from Panera Bread to Krispy Kreme, in addition to luxury hotels across Europe. 'Businesses and many families in Germany were never really de-Nazified,' de Jong said at the time, adding that companies are only transparent when they are no longer controlled by family of former Nazi collaborators.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's Merz pleased to find broad agreement with Macron in Paris
Germany's presumptive next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, described his three-hour meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday as a great success, in which the two leaders found broad agreement. "The similarities were even greater than I had expected," Merz, a centre-right Christian Democrat (CDU), told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper in remarks published on Thursday. Macron and Merz had both declared their intention to open a new chapter in Franco-German relations after their working dinner date at the Élysée Palace. Observers had widely speculated that Macron had a frosty relationship with outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Paris visit was Merz's first trip abroad since his CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), placed first in Sunday's national election. Macron has not spoken publicly about what the two men discussed in their meeting, but the Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that the exchange covered all topics from defence to migration to trade policy and was extremely constructive. Merz described the atmosphere of the talks as cordial, trusting and inspired by their mutual desire to make rapid progress in the face of major geopolitical challenges facing both countries. After the meeting, Merz wrote in a post on X in both German and French: "Thank you, dear [Emmanuel Macron], for your friendship and your trust in Franco-German relations. Together, our countries can achieve great things for Europe." Merz speaks French and has a close relationship with France. As a teenager, Merz was on a school exchange programme in Auvergne, and he and his family also spent several holidays in France.
