Germany on Track for Two-year Recession as Economy Shrinks in 2023 by Richard Partington
January 15, 2024
Introduction:
(The Guardian) Germany is on track for its first two-year recession since the early 2000s after its economy shrank in 2023 amid the impact of higher energy costs and weaker industrial demand.
The German national statistics office said “multiple crises” affecting the economy had contributed to a 0.3% fall in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, compared with the previous year, as higher interest rates and elevated living costs took their toll.
“Despite recent price declines, prices remained high at all stages in the economic process and put a damper on economic growth,” said Dr Ruth Brand, the president of the statistics office, at a press conference in Berlin on Monday.
The German national statistics office said “multiple crises” affecting the economy had contributed to a 0.3% fall in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, compared with the previous year, as higher interest rates and elevated living costs took their toll.
“Despite recent price declines, prices remained high at all stages in the economic process and put a damper on economic growth,” said Dr Ruth Brand, the president of the statistics office, at a press conference in Berlin on Monday.
Columns of Tractors Gather in Berlin for the Climax of a Week of Protests by Farmers January15, 2024
Introduction:
(AP via NBC) Columns of tractors rolled into Berlin on Monday as farmers gathered for the climax of a week of demonstrations against a plan to scrap tax breaks on the diesel they use, a protest that has tapped into wider discontent with Germany’s government.
Police said late Sunday evening that the space set aside for vehicles in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where Monday’s demonstration was being held, was already full. Over the past week, farmers have blocked highway entrances and slowed down traffic across Germany with their protests, intent on pushing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to abandon the planned cuts entirely.
They’re not satisfied with concessions the government has already made. On Jan. 4, it watered down its original plan, saying that a car tax exemption for farming vehicles would be retained and the cuts in the diesel tax breaks would be staggered over three years.
Scholz said in a video message on Saturday that “we took the farmers’ arguments to heart” and insisted the government came up with “a good compromise.” He also said officials will discuss “what else we can do so that agriculture has a good future.”
Leaders of the three governing parties’ parliamentary groups plan to meet with farmers’ representatives, though officials have dampened hopes of scrapping the subsidy cuts.
Germany’s Far-right AfD Face Mounting Protests Over Plan to Deport Migrants
by Nadine Schmidt and Sophie Tanno
January 20, 2024
Introduction:
Berlin (CNN) — Huge crowds of protesters have descended on cities in Germany, as demonstrations calling for a ban on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gain momentum.
Tens of thousands have already braved sub-zero temperatures this week to protest against the party, after it emerged senior AfD members discussed a plan to deport migrants en masse in revelations that have been compared to the Nazi era.
Crowds of up to 35,000 gathered in Frankfurt on Saturday under the banner “Defend democracy – Frankfurt against the AfD,” while a similar number of people turned out in the northern city of Hanover, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported.
Significant crowds were also seen in Stuttgard, Dortmund and Nuremberg.
In a video message issued Friday night, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed this weekend’s protests as “good and right.”
Germany Has Passed Japan for Third Largest World Economy
February 16, 2024 by Brian Wang
Official data has reports Japan economy in 2023 was $4.2 trillion in 2023, while Germany’s was $4.5 trillion. The U.S., the world’s largest economy, is expected to grow 5.8% to $26.94 trillion. China’s economy, the world’s second-largest, is forecast to shrink 1.0% to $17.7 trillion.
Germany tripled from the 1990s to today. The Japan and German were tied in 1970-1972. In 1979, Germany was 80% of Japan’s economy. Germany began reunification with East Germany in 1990. After German unification in October 1990, the economic performance of western Germany was initially strong. However, it deteriorated by 1992 and remained dismal for the remainder of the 1990s. During this time, the unemployment rate nearly doubled, as GDP growth averaged a meager 1.5 percent per year. Japan had an exceptional surge through the 1980s and into the 1990s. Japan had an economic bubble from 1986 to 1991. The Euro was launched in 1999 and it was an invisible currency for 3 years.
Bus Drivers Strike with Climate Activists in 57 German Cities by Berit Ehmke and Yanira Wolf
April 8, 2024
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) Public transit workers across Germany have broken new ground by coordinating our contracts—nearly all of them nationwide have expired over the last four months—and shutting down bus systems with strikes in 57 cities.
To add to the pressure, we’ve done something new for our union and for Germany: we’ve formed an alliance between local transport workers and climate activists, including the students who have been leading massive school walkouts.
The devastating effects of climate change are already rocking Germany: major heat waves, flooding, and water shortages. A growing movement demanding climate action has made real headway—our energy and industrial sectors have almost halved their climate pollution over the past 30 years. But on transportation, our third-biggest source, we’ve made nearly zero progress.
To beat climate change we need more buses on the road. We’re building a movement to double bus service. After three decades of cuts and privatization, we need a major federal funding boost.
But these jobs have become so tough that most agencies have huge worker shortages. To make the climate impact real, we’ll also need to raise the floor for wages, breaks, and schedules—making this a good enough job that workers will sign on and stick around.
Germany Lowers Voting Age to 16 for European Election
Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote. Austria, Belgium and Malta have already enfranchised 16 and 17-year-olds, and Greece is to allow anyone turning 17 in 2024 to participate in the June vote.
Around 4.8 million young Germans – plus about 300,000 young people from other EU member states who live in Germany – will be allowed to vote for the very first time. The group makes up a relatively small proportion of Germany’s overall electorate of 64.9 million, but is nevertheless larger than the population of many other European member states. And given that the 2019 European elections saw a significant rise in participation among young voters, we can be hopeful of a good turnout among this newly enfranchised group.
However, younger voters are being heavily courted by the far right, so this lowering of the voting age could end up boosting the performance of the Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD).
The latest data suggests that the 15-24-year-old age group has a broadly more positive view of the European parliament than the rest of the German population but that this positivity is in sharper decline than other age groups. Recent figures show 41% of Germans between 15 and 24 years old felt positively about the parliament, compared to 34% of the overall population. It had been at an all-time high of 51% just a few years ago in 2021. Similarly, while 75% of the younger age group believed in having a stronger European parliament in 2021, that has fallen to 51% in 2024.
Germany: Far-right AfD party set to win state election for first time
Sunday 1 September 2024 18:31, UK
It is the first time a far-right party looks set to have won the most seats in a German state parliament since World War Two.
A far-right party is on track to win a regional election in Germany for the first time since the Second World War.
Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded in 2013 with an anti-migration and eurosceptic agenda, picked up the most votes in the eastern state of Thuringia, according to exit polls.
The party was on course for 33.5% of the vote compared to 23.4% in the 2019 election, followed by mainstream conservatives the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on 24.5%.
But AfD was almost certain to be excluded from power by rival parties.
Olaf Scholz’s Humiliation Leaves German Power Vacuum in Heart of Europe by James Crisp
September 1, 2024
Introduction:
(The Telegraph via MSN) Olaf Scholz’s days as Germany’s chancellor are numbered after the far-Right got its best election result since the time of the Nazis.
Alternative for Germany (AFD) have won regional elections in Thuringia, with a taboo-busting 33 per cent of the vote.
Mr Scholz’s SPD is predicted to get just 6.5 per cent, while his coalition partners, the Greens and FDP, fared even worse in a vote held just a year before a nationwide federal election.
n Saxony, the AFD are fighting it out for victory with the centre-Right opposition CDU, with about 30 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls.
The anti-migrant nationalists would be in pole position to form state governments in both regions, had
Sad to see yet another country embracing the far-Right. It seems to be happening all over the globe lately. And this is before the truly devastating impacts of climate change arrive, that will produce a wave of immigration 100x greater than we have today. This doesn't bode well for the future...
wjfox wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 7:45 pm
Sad to see yet another country embracing the far-Right. It seems to be happening all over the globe lately. And this is before the truly devastating impacts of climate change arrive, that will produce a wave of immigration 100x greater than we have today. This doesn't bode well for the future...
People want simple solutions, and the far right is all about simple solutions. They're never good solutions, they're never moral solutions, they're rarely if ever working solutions, but people at a certain point just stop using higher faculties (never mind those who never use them to begin with) and they fall for the promise of easy solutions, no matter what freedoms they (or especially others) will lose trying to achieve those "solutions".
wjfox wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 7:45 pm
Sad to see yet another country embracing the far-Right. It seems to be happening all over the globe lately. And this is before the truly devastating impacts of climate change arrive, that will produce a wave of immigration 100x greater than we have today. This doesn't bode well for the future...
It's really cursed to see that it's literally the birthplace of the far-right re-embracing the far-right.
Merz vows independence from Trump's America and compares him to Putin
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany's election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe's 80-year alliance with the United States to the past. The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany's new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.
Merz's comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945. If he follows through on his rhetoric after assembling a new government in the coming weeks, Merz will steer Europe in a radical new direction at a critical time for the security of Ukraine and the wider region.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.,” Germany's chancellor-in-waiting said. “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
…Merz even went as far as to liken the Trump administrations recent tactics to those of Russia. He was especially critical of tech billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk for endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the German election. "I have absolutely no illusions about what is happening from America," Merz said during a televised debate on Sunday night. "Just look at the recent interventions in the German election campaign by Mr Elon Musk — that is a unique event. The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow. We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe."
Conservative opposition wins German election and the far right is 2nd with strongest postwar result
Source: Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result.” Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.
Merz said he hopes to put a coalition government together by Easter. But that’s likely to be challenging
weatheriscool wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:19 am
Merz vows independence from Trump's America and compares him to Putin
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany's election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe's 80-year alliance with the United States to the past. The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany's new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.
Merz's comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945. If he follows through on his rhetoric after assembling a new government in the coming weeks, Merz will steer Europe in a radical new direction at a critical time for the security of Ukraine and the wider region.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.,” Germany's chancellor-in-waiting said. “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
…Merz even went as far as to liken the Trump administrations recent tactics to those of Russia. He was especially critical of tech billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk for endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the German election. "I have absolutely no illusions about what is happening from America," Merz said during a televised debate on Sunday night. "Just look at the recent interventions in the German election campaign by Mr Elon Musk — that is a unique event. The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow. We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe."
Eighty Percent of Germans Voted Against the Far Right. Can That Happen Here? by Monika Bauerlein
February 23, 2025
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) The day before the German election, I was sobbing uncontrollably over a video that my German family sent me. It shows a table on a sidewalk, set with pretty porcelain and a sign “Feel like coffee like at Grandma’s?” As passersby sit down, a young man with a guitar carefully pours a cup and offers cream and sugar. Then he sings: “Oma, you’ve been gone a while, but I remember how you’d sit down at our kitchen table and say ‘Never again is now.’”
The viral video, created by a Hamburg singer as part of a day of action against the extreme right, is a little corny. It’s definitely part of the “remembrance culture” that some sneer at. But for, I dare say, anyone who grew up in Germany somewhere between the 1950s and 2000s, it’s a gut punch. The grandmother in the song would have been, give or take, my dad’s generation—someone who was a child during the Nazi era, maybe didn’t talk about it much, but when they did, had this to say: Never, ever, ever again.
Right now, even as we mourn the last of those who remember the Third Reich and the Holocaust, Germany and other countries are electing parties that are, at the very most generous, fascist-adjacent. Twenty percent of Germans voted for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Sunday’s election, twice as many as did so four years ago. That’s the gut punch part.
But tears are not going to get us out of here. So what will? From my perch here in the US—where I arrived decades ago, thinking that having grown up in a country that experienced fascism was never going to be relevant again—here are a couple of thoughts on what we might learn from the German election.
My only issue with the article is its failure to note that the BSW is only slightly better than the AfD. Its leader, Sahra Wagenacht, is literally a GDR admirer
What Germany’s Election Means for America — and the World by Nahal Toosi
February 23, 2025
Introduction:
(Politico) Germans delivered a major election win to conservatives Sunday — but the likely incoming chancellor may face trouble sooner than he’d like, for reasons foreign and domestic.
Friedrich Merz — the leader of the victorious Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union alliance — is a U.S.-loving former lawyer but he may clash with President Donald Trump, as Merz is a fierce defender of Europe and NATO.
Meanwhile, Merz faces rising pressure on his right: Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party with anti-migration and pro-Russian views, came in second place, amid voters’ growing concern over migration and the economy. It was the best showing ever for the party, but it likely won’t serve in a governing coalition; the other leading parties have refused to partner with AfD because they consider it too extreme. That means Merz will have to weave together a potentially fragile governing coalition, in part perhaps with the current ruling center-left Social Democrats, which landed third.
So how can Merz keep AfD at bay? Simple: He has to deliver, according to Gordon Repinski, the executive editor of POLITICO Germany and one of the savviest observers of the nation’s politics.
“The only way to reduce the votes for AfD is to form and lead a successful government,” Repinski said in an interview. “He has to work in a very smart way and solve the problems that he wants to solve and keep his promises. That’s the only way to keep the AfD down.”
Germany votes for historic boost to defence spending
25 minutes ago
German lawmakers have voted to allow a huge increase in defence and infrastructure spending - a seismic shift for the country that could reshape European defence.
A two-thirds majority of Bundestag parliamentarians, required for the change, approved the vote on Tuesday.
The law will exempt spending on defence and security from Germany's strict debt rules, and create a €500bn ($547bn; £420bn) infrastructure fund.
This vote is a historic move for traditionally debt-shy Germany, and could be hugely significant for Europe, as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on, and after US President Donald Trump signalled an uncertain commitment to Nato and Europe's defence.
