Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Monday
The coalition government continues to wrestle with the 2024 budget, the return of Covid caution and more news from around Germany on Monday.
Scholz confident that coalition can agree on 2024 budget
Germany's coalition government has been struggling about how to plug a 17 billion euro hole in the country's 2024 budget, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is confident that the three parties (SPD, Greens, FDP) will be able to reach an agreement.
“We are not faced with an unsolvable task. Everyone just needs to communicate now," Scholz said at the weekend's SPD party conference.
Scholz also ruled out cutting social benefits.
“In such a situation there will be no dismantling of the welfare state in Germany," he added, acknowledging the decision to increase citizens' basic income (Bürgergeld) by around 12 percent at the beginning of 2024. This decision has been challenged by the co-ruling FDP.
Negotiations continued Sunday evening.
READ ALSO: Thousands protest anti-Semitism in Berlin
Three injured in explosion in Essen
Three people were injured in an explosion and fire in an apartment building in Essen late Saturday evening and some residents remain missing.
One woman was seriously injured from jumping out of a first-floor window to escape the flames, which spread throughout the building, rendering it uninhabitable. Rescue workers found her lying on the street with broken glass and parts of the building scattered around her.
The explosion also destroyed the wall of a neighbouring house, causing minor injuries to two people.
The fire services searched the building with rescue dogs on Sunday and found no further people, but the resident of the apartment on the ground floor where the explosion is thought to have taken place is being considered missing.
READ ALSO: Germany's new DB timetable brings more trains but higher prices
Police say five people were reported to be in the house.
It remains unclear what caused the explosion.
Paris - Berlin night train returns
"The service will start on December 11th from Berlin with three trips per week before becoming a daily service in October 2024," said ÖBB spokesman Bernhard Rieder.
The trains will make stops in Strasbourg, Mannheim, Erfurt and Halle.
The Austrian, French and German rail companies first announced plans to resurrect the service in December 2020.
Health minister Lauterbach calls for Covid caution
As the Christmas market and party season enters full swing, Germany's health minister Karl Lauterbach is urging people to remain cautious about Covid given the current increase in new infections.
"Covid remains dangerous. It's not a cold you can safely catch every season," the SPD politician told Bild am Sonntag.
“If you want to avoid getting sick under the Christmas tree... you should get vaccinated as quickly as possible in the next few days – ideally against flu and Covid at the same time,” he urged.
Lauterbach also advised that in the run-up to Christmas it was better to wear a mask on buses and trains, work from home rather than the office, avoid large indoor celebrations and do a quick Covid test before visiting elderly or sick people.
"An infection avoided is an extra Christmas present," he said.
The Covid incident rate for the last seven days is around 1,700 new infections per 100,000 residents, but with vaccinations and infections causing higher immunity levels in the population, this is less significant than it was in the pandemic, according to Germany's Robert Koch Institute.
The increase has not translated into higher numbers of patients in intensive care units so far.
Thousands protest anti-Semitism in Berlin
Several thousand people turned out to demonstrate against anti-Semitism and racism in Berlin on Sunday as the Israel-Hamas war stirred painful memories of the past in Germany.
Around 3,200 people braved the rain to attend the protest march in the heart of the city, according to a police spokeswoman.
Demonstrators rallied under the slogan "never again is now", a reference to the Holocaust and the crimes committed by the Nazi government.
Anti-Semitism had become "commonplace" in society, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told the crowd at the protest.
"Sometimes I do not recognise this country," Schuster said.
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Scholz confident that coalition can agree on 2024 budget
Germany's coalition government has been struggling about how to plug a 17 billion euro hole in the country's 2024 budget, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is confident that the three parties (SPD, Greens, FDP) will be able to reach an agreement.
“We are not faced with an unsolvable task. Everyone just needs to communicate now," Scholz said at the weekend's SPD party conference.
Scholz also ruled out cutting social benefits.
“In such a situation there will be no dismantling of the welfare state in Germany," he added, acknowledging the decision to increase citizens' basic income (Bürgergeld) by around 12 percent at the beginning of 2024. This decision has been challenged by the co-ruling FDP.
Negotiations continued Sunday evening.
READ ALSO: Thousands protest anti-Semitism in Berlin
Three injured in explosion in Essen
Three people were injured in an explosion and fire in an apartment building in Essen late Saturday evening and some residents remain missing.
One woman was seriously injured from jumping out of a first-floor window to escape the flames, which spread throughout the building, rendering it uninhabitable. Rescue workers found her lying on the street with broken glass and parts of the building scattered around her.
The explosion also destroyed the wall of a neighbouring house, causing minor injuries to two people.
The fire services searched the building with rescue dogs on Sunday and found no further people, but the resident of the apartment on the ground floor where the explosion is thought to have taken place is being considered missing.
READ ALSO: Germany's new DB timetable brings more trains but higher prices
Police say five people were reported to be in the house.
It remains unclear what caused the explosion.
Paris - Berlin night train returns
"The service will start on December 11th from Berlin with three trips per week before becoming a daily service in October 2024," said ÖBB spokesman Bernhard Rieder.
The trains will make stops in Strasbourg, Mannheim, Erfurt and Halle.
The Austrian, French and German rail companies first announced plans to resurrect the service in December 2020.
Health minister Lauterbach calls for Covid caution
As the Christmas market and party season enters full swing, Germany's health minister Karl Lauterbach is urging people to remain cautious about Covid given the current increase in new infections.
"Covid remains dangerous. It's not a cold you can safely catch every season," the SPD politician told Bild am Sonntag.
“If you want to avoid getting sick under the Christmas tree... you should get vaccinated as quickly as possible in the next few days – ideally against flu and Covid at the same time,” he urged.
Lauterbach also advised that in the run-up to Christmas it was better to wear a mask on buses and trains, work from home rather than the office, avoid large indoor celebrations and do a quick Covid test before visiting elderly or sick people.
"An infection avoided is an extra Christmas present," he said.
The Covid incident rate for the last seven days is around 1,700 new infections per 100,000 residents, but with vaccinations and infections causing higher immunity levels in the population, this is less significant than it was in the pandemic, according to Germany's Robert Koch Institute.
The increase has not translated into higher numbers of patients in intensive care units so far.
Thousands protest anti-Semitism in Berlin
Several thousand people turned out to demonstrate against anti-Semitism and racism in Berlin on Sunday as the Israel-Hamas war stirred painful memories of the past in Germany.
Around 3,200 people braved the rain to attend the protest march in the heart of the city, according to a police spokeswoman.
Demonstrators rallied under the slogan "never again is now", a reference to the Holocaust and the crimes committed by the Nazi government.
Anti-Semitism had become "commonplace" in society, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told the crowd at the protest.
"Sometimes I do not recognise this country," Schuster said.
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