The overview in short reports on developments, results and assessments related to German politics:
Ramelow is open to cooperation with Merz
Thuringia’s ex-Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke) can imagine working on the left with a federal government listed by Friedrich Merz (CDU). In conversation with the news magazine Der Spiegel, the left faction in the Bundestag described Ramelow as “as compromising as my parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament”. The left has a high degree of commonality with the other democratic parties. The left has a theoretical blocking minority with the AfD in the future Bundestag. With it, the factions could prevent a reform of the debt brake, for which a two -thirds majority is necessary. Ramelow himself would agree to a loosening of the debt brake.
BITKOM: Government fails their goals in digital policy
The Federal Government missed its self -imposed goals in digital policy. According to an analysis by the digital association Bitkom, it has only completed 38 percent of its digital policy projects. These are 126 of a total of 334 projects from the coalition agreement and digital strategy. 10 percent or 35 projects were not even started and 52 percent were started, but did not complete, which corresponds to 173 projects, according to the “monitor digital policy” of Bitkom. “At the end of this legislature it turns out that the federal government brought some important projects to the finish, but the bottom line was not fulfilled its self-inserted resolutions,” said Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst.
Ifo against minimum wage of 15 euros
The President of the IFO Institute Clemens Fuest in favor of determining the minimum wage by politics at 15 euros. “The current economic situation does not give an increase in the minimum wage to 15 euros. Our economic output has been shrinking for two years. The average work income is still increasing, but not nearly in the scope of the required minimum lighter increase,” said Fuest. From 2023 to 2025/26, the wages are expected to increase by 13 percent. An increase in the minimum wage to 15 euros an increase would be almost twice (25 percent) in the same period.
Zvei: Bureaucracy costs more than 6 billion euros a year
Bureaucracy and reporting obligations are increasingly burdening the companies in the electrical and digital industry. This is shown by a current survey by the ZVEI industry association among its member companies. A large majority (91 percent) stated that the bureaucratic effort is higher today than five years ago. This increase is associated with great costs for companies: the financial expenses add up to more than 6 billion euros. This corresponds to about 3 percent of industry sales or more than a quarter of the expenditure for research and development. Zvei President Gunther Kegel called for an efficiency to relieve companies, among other things, noticeably relieving bureaucratic duties. “Like the EU Commission, the next federal government must be counteracting so that companies can concentrate on their core tasks and to be able to resume speeds economically,” he said.
Merz: Tax increases “poison for our economy”
Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz wants to get the economy going again. In the third year, Germany is in the recession that has never existed in this country, says the CDU boss in the ZDF morning magazine. To do this, changes would have to be made in the household. This is initially about the expenses and not the debt brake. He refers to 50 billion euros for the citizens’ allowance. “We have to correct on the output side.” Tax should tend to fall. “I rule out tax increases. They would be poison for our economy.”
IFW: Europe needs 300,000 soldiers for defense against Russia without the United States
Europe would have to mobilize 300,000 soldiers to defend themselves against Russia without the United States. This was the result of an analysis by the Brussels Research Institute in Bruegel and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Accordingly, considerable defense investments of around 250 billion euros annually would be necessary in order to effectively counter Russian military violence. The authors assume that Europe would have to set up around 50 additional brigades with a total of 300,000 soldiers. For this, at least 1,400 new battle tanks and 2,000 shelter tanks are required, which exceeds the current stocks of the entire German, French, Italian and British land forces. In addition, Europe would have to produce around 2,000 long -distance roar annually. “Even if the orders of magnitude are initially significant: the relative of the EU’s economic strength is manageable, the additional costs are only around 1.5 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product,” said Guntram Wolff, co-author of analysis and senior fellow at Kiel Institute for global economy.
ZDF Politbarometer: Union loses encouragement
A few days before the Bundestag election, according to a survey for the ZDF polite barometer, the Union from the CDU and CSU slips under the 30 percent stamp, the AfD can improve slightly. The move of the left into the Bundestag seems certain, while that of the FDP and BSW remains questionable, according to the survey of the research group elections. Accordingly, the SPD would be 16 percent (unchanged) and the CDU/CSU 28 percent (minus 2 percentage points). The Greens were 14 percent (unchanged), the FDP would reach 4.5 percent (plus 0.5) and the AfD 21 percent (plus 1). The left could expect 8 percent (plus 1), the BSW with 4.5 percent (plus 0.5).
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February 24, 2025 10:16 ET (15:16 GMT)