Germany megathread

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Hasn't Die Linke gotten more than 5% support before? Particularly with polling showing that younger Germans are more opposed to Ukraine aid I don't see how they lose all of their seats.

[Oryxslayer]

Hasn't Die Linke gotten more than 5% support before? Particularly with polling showing that younger Germans are more opposed to Ukraine aid I don't see how they lose all of their seats.

Yes, they have gotten more than 5% in the past. But the overall trend seems to be downwards, since loyal post-soviet voters are dying and not getting replaced. And you would think the party would be in a good position, what with having a small chunk of voters committed to one side of a wedge issue all to themselves and the SPD presently not doing so hot overall. But Linke have been stuck at or under 5% in national polls for over a year now (Union has also led polls since approx. the same period by increasing margins, but that is not really relevant). Which shows they have deep structural, electoral, and internal issues that I have elaborated on elsewhere.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The specific question that was asked by Allensbach in their poll was:

"Would you say that the USA is a reliable ally for Germany in the long-term, or wouldn't you say that?"

(On page 13: https://www.sicherheitsreport.net/wp-content/uploads/Sicherheitsreport_2023_Charts.pdf)

It's quite possible that I would have answered that question in the negative. Why? Donald Trump (or someone who might be even worse than Trump?) could be elected president again in 2024.

Do I believe that America is a reliable ally right now, as of this moment? I do. But you people have elections, you know. And after your last presdential election, some peculiar events occurred on January 6, 2021. Did that make America more reliable as an ally "in the long-term"? No, it didn't.

The Infratest-dimap poll cited earlier by President Johnson where the U.S. reached a higher trustworthiness of 59% did answer the question in the present and not in the long-term.

A weirdly-worded question from Allensbach designed to produce headlines? Shocking, shocking.

[CumbrianLefty]

Are they the local version of our very own People Polling?

[Middle-aged Europe]

Despite my earlier skepticism that he might be a Putin stooge (which at one point he arguably was, but apparently he's also realist/pragmatist/opportunist enough to change with the times), Boris Pistorius turned out reasonably well as defence minister so far.

Certainly a major improvement over the disaster Lambrecht was and I would even prefer him as Chancellor over the often too reluctant Scholz. You can't have an empty suit running defence in a time of... well, it's deemed inappropriate to say "war"... "heightened tensions", maybe. And that base is thankfully covered now.

Pistorius even managed to become Germany's most popular politician for the moment, overtaking Green ministers Baerbock and Habeck. Robert Habeck in particular has also been facing a lot criticism lately for the planned mandatory phasing out of fossil heating units in favour of renewable heating. A controversy which, at least from my point of view, seemed a bit funny, because this was indeed a part of the, hardly secret, SPD-Green-FDP coalition agreement (originally scheduled to begin in 2025, but modified to '24 in the wake of the Ukraine invasion) and therefore had been on the government's "to do" list for a year now.

It's just that it had apparently escaped the media's and, by extension, the public's attention until now. Also, the FDP - recently having been kicked from the Berlin state parliament - has come out aganist this initiative they had originally agreed upon themselves. That's politics for you, I guess. That being said, the concerns of homeowners need of course to be adressed and remedied in some form now. Habeck once again learns the hard way that it is now easy being in charge, especially in the middle of an energy crisis.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

I agree that the law is dumb (and will look even dumber if it is eventually struck down by the Court), but considering how things are going sometimes within the coalition it could also be a case of: this is the one compromise SPD, Greens, and FDP could agree upon.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

I agree that the law is dumb (and will look even dumber if it is eventually struck down by the Court), but considering how things are going sometimes within the coalition it could also be a case of: this is the one compromise SPD, Greens, and FDP could agree upon.

But that's precisely what I don't understand: why was the original proposal where the number of direct and proportional mandates was cut from 598 to 500 scrapped? There has been very little debate and transparency on this. Who objected to what?

I have tried to keep myself abreast of what goes on the Bundestag and subscribe to multiple newsletters, but even the SPD didn't send out anything and my MdB Hakan Demir basically said nothing about it.

It's very strange and feels very undemocratic.

[President Johnson]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

I have a feeling the court is going to overrule this, though I strongly support the reform. 736 members is just way too much and it's possible after the next election that number further increases. Something had to be done after CDU/CSU showed no actual intention to get something done.

Personally I wouldn't even mind to switch to a more Westminister-like system with 500 districts and a majority vote. If no candidate gets 50%, there's a runoff two weeks later (similar to France).

[Middle-aged Europe]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

[President Johnson]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

Too large districts make it even harder for their respective MPs to be present in all parts of it. I don't think that's a good solution. In fact, I think some districts are already too large.

[Middle-aged Europe]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

Too large districts make it even harder for their respective MPs to be present in all parts of it. I don't think that's a good solution. In fact, I think some districts are already too large.

Through the list seats some districts technically have multiple representatives (with offices in that district) though. The direct seats ensured however that every district had at least one representative. Well, with the new reform they wouldn't anymore, I guess.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/wahlrechtsreform-wie-der-bundestag-verkleinert-werden-soll-100.html
Interesting article I found on this.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

Do you know who was a staunch opponent of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution after Reunification?

[CumbrianLefty]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

Do you know who was a staunch opponent of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution after Reunification?

Dunno, who?

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

By now I'm a fan of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution, leading to fewer directly elected seats and hence also  fewer overhang and compensation seats. It doesn't even require to change the electoral system itself, but only a specific number within that system. That would make it a relatively safe bet that it passes the courts, unlike the last couple (and probably future) electoral reforms.

Do you know who was a staunch opponent of the "enlarge the damn districts" solution after Reunification?

Dunno, who?

Rita Süssmuth (CDU), President of the Bundestag from 1988 to 1998.
During her first speech in front of the Bundestag after Reunification, she rejected the public demand for a decimation of the number of members of parliament and hence the enlargement of the constituencies.

Speaking of female Bundestag Presidents, why haven't Bärbel's anti-democratic proposition (gender parity in the Bundestag, lowering of the voting age, extension of the legislative period 🤮) been discuss yet?

[Yeahsayyeah]

How is lowering the voting age "anti-democratic"? (And I don't get the reasoning for "gender parity in parliament is anti-democratic", too...)

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

How is lowering the voting age "anti-democratic"? (And I don't get the reasoning for "gender parity in parliament is anti-democratic", too...)

I think the latter is self-explanatory. The Brandenburg constitutional court already issued a judgment regarding this matter in 2020.

As to the voting age, young people's knowledge in polity and politics is very low, they don't read the news, most of them don't pay taxes. (Those youths that are serving an apprenticeship should be allowed to vote in my opinion.) Further, they fall way easier for green, yellow and blood-red ratcatcher at that age. Especially in the light of the fact that 12-year-old girls are allowed in Germany to murder other 12-year-old girls, and 13-year-old migrants are allowed to stub out cigarette butts on the face of a 13-year-old mentally disabled child, while the Greens fully rally behind the perpetrators and while our olive federal minister for justice and declarations of war rejects a lowering of the age of accountability because it would go against the FDP's moral sense of their IdEaLs of freeeeeeedom™ 🤮, but only three years later they'd have the right to decide upon the control of the reins of our country? No way! 🤬

[CumbrianLefty]

Young people are more likely to vote for left-liberal parties, you say?

Rather said the quiet part out loud there

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Quite a bit of news this week on the legislative front:

1.) Immigration & Citizenship Reform

The Federal Council approved a draft law of the new Skilled Workers' Act, with the aim of transitioning Germany's immigration system to a Canadian-style points-based system and loosening citizenship rules and restrictions.

For the points-based system, points are awarded to immigrants for qualities such as educational attainment, relevant professional experience, being under the age of 35, speaking English at a C1 level (just 1 point though), speaking German at a B1 level (2 points) or B2 level (3 points), or demonstrating a strong connection to Germany in some way (marriage, business, long-residency, etc.). Immigrants will need a total of 6 out of 10 points to be approved to immigrate.

For citizenship, the current ban on dual-citizenship that only has a few exceptions will be abolished; instead dual citizenship up to the third generation will be allowed. And instead of requiring 8 years of permanent residency, the new requirement will be just 5 years, and if the applicant can prove they have taken strong measures to integrate (e.g. language proficiency), then this will be shortened to just 3 years.  

Finally, the law mandates that the process becomes faster and easier to apply for; there are large backlogs of citizenship applications that have built up over the past few years. The Federal Employment Agency also wants the process to become more digitized, explicitly calling for the end of fax machine-based communications.

However, after the Federal Council, the draft law must first be submitted to the Bundestag, where it only needs (and is virtually certain to get) a simple majority, but then must be sent to the Bundesrat, where the CDU technically has a blocking majority and can water down or force changes to the law. While the CDU has derided the Traffic Light coalition's proposed reforms as "cheapening German citizenship", they have not offered any specific counterpoints, nor have they rejected the reform entirely. We could see a situation similar situation to the Bürgergeld reform, where the CDU forces mostly cosmetic changes to the law before approving it. So stay tuned.

The coalition partners have emphasized that this is not the end-all be-all solution to the workforce shortages, which will require further actions such as additional education and training, and continued drawing existing residents off of the sidelines. Which brings us to our next topic...


2.) Education & Training Policy

They also approved a draft law of a Further Education Act. The law's goal is to modernize Germany's system of training programs and additional education after primary studies. Changes include a legal guarantee for an apprenticeship position, fixed rates of support for the training of employees, opening up support for continuing training to all companies, qualification allowance for companies undergoing structural change, training guarantee with traineeships for career orientation and mobility bonus, among others.

The Further Education Act is paired with the Skilled Workers' Act as part of a strategy to attract new talent from abroad but also fully maximize the potential of existing talent in the country.


3.) Climate & Infrastructure Policy

The Traffic Light Coalition recently finished a three-day intensive negotiation period, and it looks like the Greens are the primary losers here in terms of having to compromise on the planned modifications to the Climate Protection Act from 2019.

So far, the annual emissions of greenhouse gases for the economic sectors such as energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, waste management and others have been recorded individually. Now the strict annual limits are to be relaxed. Instead, compliance with the climate protection goals should “in future be checked using a cross-sectoral and multi-annual accounting”, as stated in the traffic light decision paper. In other words: Not every sector has to comply with the CO2 limits set for it, as long as the amount saved is appropriate overall.

In addition, the federal ministries responsible for the respective sectors should no longer have to draw up emergency programs for more climate protection if the goals are not met. Instead, the government only has to make adjustments if the data indicate that the climate targets for 2030 will not be met for two consecutive years - for all sectors together. This could slow down the process of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 because there is no longer a need to react immediately to possible violations of the binding targets set forth in the 2019 act.

The FDP also won against the Greens with their demand for continued equal prioritization of road construction just as much as railways. While the Greens demanded that railways be given priority, a total of 144 road projects will be given special status and implemented more quickly. However, the Greens did succeed in a binding commitment to more solar panels for every kilometer of roadway constructed.

The Greens also lost to the FDP on the topic of heating systems. Almost a year ago, when the Ukraine war started, a first draft law from Habeck's ministry was interpreted as a de facto ban on the installation of new gas and oil heating systems. The draft law now retains an openness to new technologies, which will allow heaters using hydrogen or climate-friendly fossil fuels to be used. Overall, every newly installed heating system should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy from 2024 onwards.

So far, the environmentalist movement is apoplectic about it, and see it as a disaster. The FDP has presented this as a win, while the SPD has emphasized the acceleration of infrastructure projects and said that this is not the end of climate legislation in the current legislative term.

However, not all is lost from the Green side: the new Deutschland-Tempo means that infrastructure such as railways and renewable energy projects will be approved and built faster. Major investments in charging stations at every petrol station, e-trucks, e-busses, and cycle lanes are provided for. EU emissions trading will be expanded to more sectors. 25% of all freight traffic should be carried by rail by 2030. The Deutsche Bahn will receive 45 billion Euros by 2027, financed largely by an increase in the truck toll and heavy-vehicles toll, and the BahnCard 100 will be expanded to local rail as well. A new goal of 15 million electric vehicles on Germany's roads by 2030 has been set.

There was also no mention of the planned basic child security that was agreed to in the 2021 coalition contract. The CDU attacked the SPD for this, and the SPD replied that there is still a major backlog of reforms that will continue to be worked through, and also referenced the already-implemented increases in child benefits and supplement payments.

So the Traffic Light coalition lives on. But now instead of the FDP being the unhappy camper, it's now the Greens. And this comes after some previous big losses such as the extension of nuclear power plant operations, the fiasco with internal-combustion bans at the EU level,

The CDU chimed in with a little trolling on the budget, lack of child allowance, and the "weakening of climate protection goals". Die Linke said Scholz's leadership was "weak", and the AfD mostly just whined about the heating system requirements.

[President Johnson]

King Charles is currently in Germany for a three-day state visit. He gave a speech at the Bundestag today, partly in German (I wasn't aware he speaks some German) in which he highlighted British-German friendship and impressed even some of his critics.

I must admit that while I'm no fan of manarchies, his speech was pretty strong. Statesman-like, but also somewhat political and not just the usual talk. I think he's doing pretty well in his role so far. It's a pleasure to have him here.

https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1641433489080737792

[Filuwaúrdjan]

His father was a fluent speaker as was his surrogate father figure (Mountbatten) so it's not so surprising, especially as he's not bad with languages: he has passable Welsh, and that's really not an easy language to learn.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/transatlantic/status/1642623523356135424?s=20

[Meclazine for Israel]

Cannot criticize this guy. Some refugees work their socks off and build a successful future. Credit to this man coming from the wrong side of the tracks.

In other German news, women can now legally bathe topless.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2023/03/21/allowing-topless-women-in-pools-in-germany-its-about-discrimination/

Normally I would post a pic, but posting a picture of a topless German woman on these forums is still illegal.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

In other German news, women can now legally bathe topless.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2023/03/21/allowing-topless-women-in-pools-in-germany-its-about-discrimination/

Only in Berlin.

This is already quite old news, btw, and you weren't even the first one to post this.

Normally I would post a pic, but posting a picture of a topless German woman on these forums is still illegal.

Just post the flag of Virginia as a symbolic picture.