ROUNDUP: Merz promises municipalities help with rising social costs
SCHWERIN – After the incendiary letter from the town hall heads of the state capitals of all 13 federal states on the municipal financial misery, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has pledged support. “We have to help the municipalities,” said Merz, so that they can “fulfill the legal obligations that we impose on them.” Because they are usually federal laws, sometimes additional state laws and regulations. During his inaugural visit to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Chancellor in Schwerin continued: “The communities are right in the requests they make to us. They are now really cries for help and I take them very seriously.”
ROUNDUP 2: New EU analysis is critical of Ukraine’s pace of reform
BRUSSELS – Ukraine must increase the pace of reform if it wants to achieve the goals it has set for itself on the way to membership in the European Union. This is the result of an analysis presented by EU Foreign Affairs Representative Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in Brussels this afternoon. Kallas nevertheless attested that Ukraine had made progress: the comprehensive reforms during the Russian war of aggression showed the country’s considerable efforts to become an EU member.
Forecast: New S21 district would cost Stuttgart billions
STUTTGART – The construction of the new district on the vacant track areas of Stuttgart 21 is likely to cost the city of Stuttgart several billion euros. This emerges from an initial cost estimate presented by the city administration. Accordingly, development, planning, dismantling and site adjustments alone, including a buffer for cost increases, would cost up to 1.6 billion euros.
Steinmeier for humanity in dealing with Syrian refugees
KUMASI – Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has spoken out against immediately sending people from Syria who have fled to Germany back to their destroyed homeland. “Someone who stands in front of the rubble of a war, expresses his horror and asks himself out loud, can he live in it – you can also give room for this horror for a while,” said Steinmeier during his visit to Ghana.
ROUNDUP: According to the UN, Earth is heading for 2.8 degrees of warming
NAIROBI – According to the United Nations, with current global climate policy, the earth is heading for 2.8 degrees of warming by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times. The UN Environment Program (UNEP) based in Nairobi said it is very likely that the internationally agreed 1.5 degree target will be exceeded within the next decade. The global community actually wants to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees in order to avert the worst consequences of climate change.
Study: More productivity with works councils
MUNICH – Works councils not only benefit employees, but can also be good for companies. Researchers from Ifo, IAB and the University of Konstanz have now backed up with figures what is often cited by the trade unions. Specifically for companies in which automation has been introduced.
Record employment in medium-sized businesses – but bureaucracy is slowing it down
FRANKFURT – Small and medium-sized businesses in Germany have more employees than ever before – but recently the creation of new jobs has weakened. Small and medium-sized companies in this country will have a good 33 million employees in 2024, according to an analysis by the state development bank KfW. Around 207,000 employed people were added within a year. In the previous year, however, almost half a million new jobs were created in medium-sized businesses.
Young people worry about retirement provision – but many barely save
FRANKFURT – Is your pension secure? Not at all, says a broad majority of the population in a representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of Deutsche Bank (Deutsche Bank) and with the support of the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary DWS (DWS Group GmbHCo). Across all age groups, more than 80 percent of the 3,200 respondents believe that this could happen in the long term Pension system no longer work reliably.
Customer note:
ROUNDUP: You read a summary in the economic overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.
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