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Local Germany
4 days ago
- Business
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: A shake-up at Deutsche Bahn and tips for the summer heat
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Der Zug endet hier I once heard a German describe hating Deutsche Bahn (DB) as 'Germany's unofficial pastime' and I have yet to find a better way to sum up the country's fraught relationship with its national railway company. This week it was announced that DB's CEO has been kicked to the curb - or, for him ' dieser Zug endet hier ', if you will. Richard Lutz, who has been at the helm of DB since 2017, will leave his chief executive post two years before the end of his contract, Germany's Transport Minister confirmed. But while it's largely true that under Lutz's leadership DB has 'slid from one negative headline to the next', as a report in BR24 put it, it's not clear that a new CEO would be able to do much about it - certainly not in the short term. The first major challenge the next boss will face is improving DB's overall punctuality, which has gotten notoriously bad in recent years . In long-distance traffic, less than two-thirds of stops are now reached on time, and this has resulted in increasingly low customer satisfaction. But improving punctuality at DB will not be easy, because it's inherently linked to the other major challenges that the company faces, namely; infrastructure, politics, lack of funding and just to top it all off, looming collective bargaining negotiations. (Yes, we can presumably look forward to more transport strikes next year.) DB's infrastructure issues are extensive - large parts of major connections need an extensive overhaul. And while DB has a long-term construction plan in place, funding from the government never quite seems to be adequate. Add to that a federal government that will soon be frantically trying to close a massive budget gap and a national economy that has been teetering on the edge of recession for years… All of which is to say I don't envy whoever it is that takes over at DB, but I do hope they can succeed to some degree despite all odds against them. After all, the only thing worse than a delayed train, is having no train at all. As an American, I can fully attest to this. Advertisement Where is this? Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bodo Schackow This overhead view comes from a road in the eastern region of Germany, not too far from the border with the Czech Republic. Here a two-lane road is suspended directly above the reservoir of the Zeulenroda dam. Zeulenroda is a town in the Thuringian Slate Mountains, just south of Gera and west of the saxon cities of Zwickau and Chemnitz . It's been hot In last week's Inside Germany update we suggested that a bout of high temperatures were on the way, and indeed, this week the weather delivered . This week the German Weather Service (DWD) had heat warnings in place for most regions in the country. At time of writing (on Friday afternoon), heat warnings were still in place for most of the country and - as if the sheer heat wasn't enough - severe storm warnings were also in place in parts of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria. Advertisement The heatwave is expected to recede in most parts of the country just ahead of the weekend, but something tells me that Germany may not have seen its last heatwave of this summer. So in case you want to get ahead of the next one, here a few topical explainers we published this week to help you stay cool: If you live in Germany, odds are you probably don't have air conditioning - so here's a few tips to help you keep the apartment cool without it. And if you've tried most of those and the heat in your home is still unbearable, you may be able to claim a reduction in your rent - here's how . Warm weather also tends to bring out the bugs: Rachel Loxton explained some tricks for dealing with those . Lastly, hot - or even just fair weather - days in Germany are great for one thing in particular: trips to your local swimming hole. In case you're interested in trying out a new one, you could check out guides to Berlin's best lakes , Bavaria's best swim spots , cities with swimmable rivers , or these reader tips for making the best of a lake day .
Local Germany
12-04-2025
- Business
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: New coalition, Spargelzeit and a sausage-driven recovery
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. New coalition sets out its vision for Germany Whatever you may think of Friedrich Merz, one thing can't be denied: Germany's incoming chancellor certainly lives up to the country's reputation for efficiency. Just four weeks after kicking off coalition talks, Merz's centre-right CDU and CSU alliance unveiled their new coalition pact with the centre-left SPD on Wednesday. At almost 150 pages, it's a hefty tome - and it's pretty mixed news for the international community. While many of the citizenship reforms brought in by the previous government will remain, the parties have pledged to scrap the "turbo" three-year path to citizenship . That means that all foreigners, regardless of integration, will have to wait at least five years to naturalise in the country. (Unless they're married to a German of course.) Luckily, dual nationality is set to remain in place, allaying the worst fears of many foreigners. For skilled workers, there are also a few interesting plans in the pact: the government wants to set up a new digital agency for skilled labour immigration, which will act as a single point of contact for workers from abroad. In future, the aim is to recognise foreign qualifications in as little as eight weeks. The agreement also contains plenty of policies designed to relieve struggling households - from tax relief for the middle classes to cheaper electricity and a hike in Elterngeld for new parents. Things are set to get tougher for jobseekers, however, as Bürgergeld is set to be replaced with a much stricter system. READ ALSO: How Germany's new coalition will affect your bank balance Advertisement Overall, the government has set itself two major tasks in this administration: boosting the ailing economy, and shoring up defence. The first will be done with hundreds of billions in infrastructure spending, as well as tax cuts for businesses and incentives to get people working more. The second with unlimited borrowing for defence and a new voluntary military service scheme. If you want to read about the government's plans in more depth, we've got you covered in our recent explainer. In it, we take you through the main policy changes that could affect the lives of foreigners in Germany. Wisdom of the week Between tariff threats and sluggish growth, there's been nothing but gloomy news about the economy lately. Could this bold new plan to double down on sausage sales be the answer the Bundesrepublik is waiting for? Where is this? Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jens Kalaene What on first glance looks like cascading ocean waves is, in fact, some large plastic sheets spread over a harvest of Spargel . Germany's white asparagus season is set to begin soon, meaning restaurants across the country will be adorning their menus with Spargel -dishes, and asparagus stalls will be springing up at the side of the road. This picture shows workers loosening the sheets on an asparagus field in Beelitz. The small town on the outskirts of Berlin is nicknamed Spargelstadt ("asparagus city") for a reason: it's one of the most famous asparagus-growing regions in the country. Advertisement Living offline in the 21st century Germany's lacklustre digital transformation may have been hitting the headlines lately , but as it emerged this week, not everyone is worried about online services. According to the Federal Office of Statistics (Destatsis), around 2.8 million people in Germany live life entirely offline - and have never even used the internet. The figures, which were based on a survey of computer use across the EU, show that four percent of 16-to-74 year olds are "offliners". For this group, booking a train ticket online or chatting with friends via WhatsApp are simply not a part of their lives. A woman works on a laptop. Image by Pexels from Pixabay With Germany's poor track record on digitalisation, many of us can only dream of such an innocent existence. How can you complain about paper and the post when you've never known any other way? For the rest of us, the woes of bureaucracy drag on. On that note, we'd love to know your thoughts on the most painful parts of administrative life in Germany. Have your say - and a healthy vent - by filling in our latest reader survey . Easter holidays begin in several German states Last week saw the first handful of states break up for the Easter holidays, with schools closing in Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt on the 7th and in Schleswig-Holstein on the 11th. On Monday, children in Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland are set to follow suit. Saxony will be the last of the states to head for its holidays, with schools in the eastern state closing from Good Friday. Advertisement If you're planning a fun Easter getaway, don't forget to read our rundown of the disruptions on Deutsche Bahn and potential jams on the Autobahn . We'll be off next week for our own long weekend, so in the meantime, happy Easter from all of us here at The Local. 'Inside Germany' will be back on the site - and in your inboxes - in two week's time.
Local Germany
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: Hard-hitting tariffs, cherry blossoms and spring time festivities
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. As I write, news about backlash to Trump's latest tariffs – which were levied against most countries in the world including, strangely, an uninhabited island near Antarctica – is dominating German media headlines. The blanket tariff of 20 percent on all EU imports comes following a previously announced 25 percent tariffs on foreign cars and steel and aluminium. These are expected to deal a devastating blow to the auto industry, which represents more than 750,000 jobs in Germany, and has already been struggling with increased foreign competition as well as navigating the transition to producing more electric vehicles. Reactions from both German industry leaders and politicians have been mixed . Maybe too mixed, in fact, with some calling for immediate backlash and others cautioning against reactionary measures. The German auto association (VDA), for example, managed to do both at the same time, saying, 'The EU is now called upon to act together and with necessary force, while continuing to signal its willingness to negotiate." One thing that everyone does agree on: this looks to be the beginning of a new era for Germany - US trade. The WTO Director-General has said the move could trigger a trade war, while the German Economic Institute believes the move could cost Germany around €200 billion over the next four years. If Germany and the EU do end up going forward with retaliatory tariffs, the cost of US products would likely rise, which may also encourage more Germans to personally boycott goods from the US. Advertisement Tweet of the week Fixed it for you, @Bild. [image or embed] — Fridays for Future Germany ( @ ) 3 April 2025 at 09:25 Germany is in the midst of a drought, and following a warm and dry winter water levels in the Rhine River are at an historic low for this time of year. The Rhine River is an important in-land shipping lane for cargo ships in Germany. Reporting on the looming economic impacts of the drought, the BILD newspaper ran a headline this week that read, 'Low Rhine level threatens German economy'. Friday's for Future Germany didn't miss their chance for a tongue-in-cheek response, telling BILD they fixed the headline to read, 'Climate crisis threatens German economy'. Advertisement Experts say that human caused climate change has made extreme weather like droughts worse and more common around the world. Where is this? Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Federico Gambarini You can find cherry blossoms and magnolia flowers in full bloom in German cities around the country at this time of year. But this iconic flower-gazing location gets a top mention in travel blogs and guide books every year. This is Heerstraße in Bonn, which, along with Breitestraße, is arguably Germany's best location to be overwhelmed by pink and white blossoms in early April. Other breathtaking places to admire the fleeting petals include parts of the Berliner Mauerweg near Bornholmer Straße and Düsseldorf's House of Japanese Culture. READ ALSO: Eight unmissable events happening in Germany in April 2025 Spring has sprung This week has brought some pleasantly warm weather and blue skies to much of Germany, offering residents a chance to catch a bit of sun. While parts of eastern Germany will see temperatures drop again through the weekend , it won't be long before they climb again. Advertisement In the meantime, you wont want to miss your chance to indulge in some of the spring-time traditions that Germany has to offer. April is a good month for painting Easter eggs with the family, visiting your local folk festival or foraging for wild herbs in the nearby woods -- don't miss your chance to do so now, or else you'll need to wait a whole year before the opportunity comes again.
Local Germany
29-03-2025
- Business
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: Clock debates, controversial hedges and the sorrows of Deutsche Bahn
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Will the next government tackle Germany's rail crisis? "The greatest crisis in 30 years..." That was how Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz described the state of Germany's railways on Thursday . Lutz was presenting the company's latest set of dire figures to reporters, from the €1.8 billion of losses in 2024 to anaemic sales and total debts of €32 billion. In news that's unlikely to surprise many rail passengers, Deutsche Bahn also hit a new low in punctuality last year, with just 62.5 percent of trains arriving on time. "We are far from meeting our customers' expectations," Lutz said, perfecting the art of understatement. The endless sorrows of the national rail service are well known to anyone who lives in Germany. More recently, though, the reputation of Deutsche Bahn has even started to spill across borders. In a recent article , The Local France editor Emma Pearson shared her tips for staying sane while travelling on DB's "direct" Berlin to Paris service. In it, she cautioned readers to be stoic and expect the unexpected. So, as Germany gears up to usher in a new government, will the next 'Grand Coalition' be able to finally get to grips with the railways? On first glance, the noises sound positive - but, much like a cross-country trip on DB Regio, it won't be an easy journey. According to the latest leaked plans, the CDU/CSU and SPD want to embark on a "fundamental rail reform", clearing out old management and pouring in massive investments. As part of a €500 billion infrastructure fund, tens of billions would be used to spruce up the creaking railways and modernise the busiest routes. According to Lutz, at least €150 billion will be needed to get the job done. And, given how long some of these projects can take, several more years of delays may be on the cards. Luckily, though, the government is also promising to keep the Deutschlandticket , so you can still travel to your destination on a budget - provided you're not too concerned with getting there on time. Advertisement Tweet of the week Some of us may have made the mistake of deciding to do a spot of cleaning DIY on a Sunday, forgetting about Germany's sacred Ruhetag (quiet day) rules. If your German neighbours have anything to do with it, it's not a mistake you'll make twice. When it's Sunday, and it's Germany, and you want to watch the world burn. — Nic Houghton (@40PercentGerman) March 23, 2025 Where is this? Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jan Woitas This atmospheric scene shows the MS Cospuden moored on Leipzig's Cospudener See on Thursday evening during a cosy book reading. Parallel to the Leipzig Book Fair, which runs until Sunday, more than 3,000 events are taking place at 350 different locations throughout the city for the 'Leipzig reads' reading festival - including atop the city's lakes. Advertisement Clocks go forward... again It's that time of year again. On March 30th, the clocks go forward and politicians go back to a years-long debate about when (if ever) the practice will be scrapped for good. The European Union has been eyeing an end to Daylight Saving Time since 2018 , when a public consultation revealed that millions were in favour. For the past seven years, however, the bloc has been stuck in limbo amid disagreements on how to go about it. This year Poland is in charge of the rotating EU presidency and wants to put the question of the clocks back on the agenda. Proponents of the change are pushing for a target date to end the changing of the clocks in order to speed up the process. If they're successful, it's possible the bloc could be gearing up to finally call time on the century-old practice. For now, though, we're still set to wake up one hour later on Sunday morning (or lose one hour of sleep, depending on how you think about it) - and gain an hour of sunlight in the evening. Advertisement When is a hedge too high? If you've lived in Germany for a while, you've probably realised that there are some very strict rules governing neighbourly behaviour. From grilling on your balcony to how often your guinea pigs have sex, every question imaginable can end up in the German courts . Most recently, the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe was asked to rule on a highly philosophical question: when is a hedge a hedge, and how high can it be? The question was prompted by a recent dispute in Frankfurt between two neighbours. The plaintiff had demanded that his neighbour cut back her six-metre bamboo hedge, while the neighbour refused to do so. After much back and forth, the verdict was clear: there is no legal height limit for a hedge in Germany. That said, you do have to make sure it's far enough from your neighbour's property - and don't forget to trim it at the specified times of year .
Local Germany
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: Can we change the conversation on immigration?
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Can Germany change the conversation on immigration? What a week it's been. After just over two months of political limbo, an intense campaign and a war of words, Germans voted in a nationwide election on Sunday. The conservative alliance (CDU/CSU) won 28.5 percent of the vote, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which snagged its best ever showing with just over 20 percent. The SPD came third with just over 16 percent of the vote, followed by the Greens (11.6 percent) and Die Linke (Left Party) with 8.7 percent. There were no huge surprises (except perhaps Die Linke' s last minute surge); we expected the conservatives to win, and for the AfD to make gains. But with an election campaign marked by anti-immigration rhetoric, it's not hard to see why many people - especially those with a foreign background - in Germany feel worried about these results. Although the AfD is excluded from a future coalition government due to the 'firewall' by mainstream parties, the party has still spread racist and xenophobic hate speech and is helping to shape the political agenda. Let's not forget the AfD in Karlsruhe campaigned with fake flyers designed to look like 'deportation tickets' aimed at sending illegal migrants home. The party also embraced the term 'remigration' - understood to refer to the mass "return" or deportation of certain migrants - in its election programme. In a survey conducted by our team this week, some foreign residents in Germany told us their concerns. " I don't feel safe and frankly have no plans to travel anywhere near the East German states," said David, after the AfD won the majority of votes in nearly every constituency in the former East German states. Another reader, Dmitry in Düsseldorf, said: 'At least one fifth of the voters hate me and want me gone." Tape calling for a ban of Germany's far-right AfD is attached to a fence closing off a construction site in front of the Reichstag. Photo: John Macdougall / AFP But it's not just about the AfD. The CDU/CSU alliance has moved further to the right and headlined its campaign on an immigration crackdown. This wasn't only in reaction to horrific attacks perpetrated by individuals with a migrant background. The CDU/CSU has long been pushing to reverse the previous government's citizenship reform, with soon-to-be chancellor Friedrich Merz recently saying that reduced residency requirements and dual citizenship for all "creates too many problems in Germany". What does any of this achieve? German politicians should be talking about immigration differently. The country is in desperate need of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers from abroad each year to fill jobs and contribute to social security. This is not to say that there should not be difficult conversations about the rules around how people from abroad can come to Germany. There are decisions to make and resources to think about on how best to support refugees, for example. But there are better ways to do it. Personally, I can't think of a time when embracing diversity has not enriched my life. Moving to Berlin, a city brimming with people from different backgrounds and countries, from a smaller city in Scotland has been truly amazing. I learn all the time about different cultures and ways of doing things. Looking at the bigger picture, we are in turbulent times. Political leaders and people across the world, including in Germany, are worried about the future of democracy and the rise of authoritarian regimes. With so much at stake - both at home and abroad - it makes sense that Merz and the SPD are trying to pull a new German coalition government together at lightning speed. I just wish that German leaders would recognise the contribution of immigrants to the country instead of playing into far-right narratives. As research has showed time and time and again, anti-migrant rhetoric like this only benefits the far right. Hamburg votes The voting spell isn't quite over, at least for one city! Hamburg, a Social Democrats' stronghold, goes to the polls on Sunday, March 2nd, to vote for a new state parliament. According to polls, the Social Democrats are still clearly ahead with around 33 percent of the vote, followed by the CDU with 18 percent and the Greens with 17 percent. In 2020, the SPD won the parliamentary elections with 39.2 percent of the vote, followed by the Greens with 24.2 percent, while the CDU achieved its worst result in the Hanseatic city with 11.2 percent. People walk no a rainy day in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt Thank you and auf Wiedersehen! I'm writing this letter to you on my last day at The Local as I step down as Editor of the Germany site. I joined the company six and a half years ago when things looked quite a bit different. Angela Merkel was still chancellor and the full force of events like Brexit, a global pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine was yet to hit us. Immigration was, of course, still a big talking point. Dual citizenship for all had not yet come into force. One of the high points of my time at The Local has been covering the citizenship reform along with my fantastic colleagues. I have been so lucky to be able to bring you articles over the years about life in Germany and I am truly thankful for every opportunity. For those of you who I've spoken to directly, I have appreciated your feedback and I have loved listening to your stories. It is time for me to take a pause and reset. But I very much hope we meet again.
