Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Arbitration starts for German airport security staff over pay dispute, concerns over armed far-right extremists, electric car sales worries and more news from around Germany on Friday.
Security staff at airports enter negotiations
Friday will also see the start of arbitration for around 25,000 airport security employees and Verdi union members who check passengers, baggage, freight and staff at all airports around Germany - with the exception of Munich airport - on behalf of the Federal Police.
An agreement is expected to be reached by Sunday evening, according to sources.
It follows ongoing negotiations with flight attendant union Ufo which started on Thursday.
If there is an unsuccessful outcome for either group, it could mean that more strikes are on the horizon.
In the past months, airport strikes around Germany have led to hundreds of flight cancellations. While a wage agreement was reached last Wednesday amid ground staff, talks remain ongoing for other airport workers and could stretch into peak travel season over the summer.
READ ALSO: Could Germany soon see more airport strikes?
More than 1,000 far-right extremists in Germany 'are armed'
At the end of 2022, 1,051 suspected far-right extremists and around 400 so-called Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich), a grouping of in some cases violent extremists and conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic, as well as other individuals, were known to have at least one weapons permit, according to the German government.
A year earlier, 1,561 right-wing extremists and around 500 Reichsbürger were armed. The government does not yet have final figures on armed individuals for 2023.
A total of 181 suspected far-right extremists had their weapons licenses revoked in 2022 or returned them after pressure from the authorities.
In view of the figures, left-wing MP Martina Renner said that “concrete action by the authorities against armed Nazis and Reichsbürger” was needed.
In January last year, after exposed coup plans of a Reichsbürger group, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented an internal draft for tightening gun laws. However, coalition partner - the FDP - has so far rejected any changes to gun law and is instead focusing on better enforcement of the current law.
READ ALSO: Will Germany tighten gun laws following alleged plot to overthrow government?
Russia says man 'who tried spying for Germany' jailed
A Russian man who tried passing secrets to the German government in exchange for help moving there has been handed 12 years jail for treason, a Russian court said Thursday.
Since Russia launched its assault on Ukraine two years ago, authorities have levelled treason charges against dozens of people it accuses of aiding Kyiv and the West.
The 46-year-old resident of Siberia's Omsk region gathered secret military information and "tried to establish contact" with a German official, Omsk regional court said.
Security services detained the man in June 2023 and found him in possession of a flash drive containing the coordinates of Russian military units, according to local media reports.
The defendant was motivated by a desire to obtain "assistance in moving to Germany for permanent residence" and sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime penal colony, the court said.
German electric car sales 'very weak' in March
Sales of new cars in Germany fell in March, official data showed Thursday, dragged down by plummeting demand for electric vehicles following the phaseout of government incentives.
A total of 263,844 new cars hit roads in Europe's largest economy last month, the KBA federal transport authority said, down 6.2 percent from a year earlier.
The decrease could be partly attributed to fewer working days compared with March 2023.
But analysts said new registrations were also hit by an ongoing slump in the market for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs), after the government withdrew incentives at the end of last year.
BEV sales plunged by nearly 29 percent in March, the KBA said.
"This political decision has led to considerable uncertainty in the market," said EY analyst Constantin Gall.
German firms help 'rebuild' Russian-occupied Mariupol: report
Two German construction companies are taking part in rebuilding Russian-occupied Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that fell to Moscow's invading forces two years ago, a German press investigation claimed on Thursday.
The industrial Knauf group, which manufactures plasterboard, and WKB Systems, which produces aerated concrete, have been providing materials for construction in the city that was almost entirely flattened during the early months of the war, according to the investigation by Monitor magazine and shown on the public ARD television channel.
Monitor says it has analysed numerous images from construction sites where the Knauf logo appears, as well as detailed activity reports demonstrating the German company's presence in the port city.
Mariupol fell to Russian forces after a two-month siege that cost the lives of thousands and left the city in rubble.
The magazine also quotes an "official distributor" of Knauf's that is promoting a housing project in Mariupol, built with Knauf products on behalf of the Russian defence ministry.
Products from WKB Systems, which is majority-owned by Russian businessman Viktor Budarin, can also be seen at construction sites in Mariupol, the magazine said.
Knauf, in a statement sent to AFP, insisted it "respects all the EU, UK and American sanctions against Russia".
The Bavarian group runs 14 production sites in Russia where it employs 4,000 people.
It said its decision not to pull out of Russia - as many major German groups did following the invasion - was out of "responsibility" to its employees.
Since conquering Mariupol, Russia has published a reconstruction plan for the city, which was home to more than 400,000 Ukrainians before the invasion.
"Any enterprise participating should ask itself at whose service it is putting itself," Germany's foreign ministry told AFP, describing Russia's reconstruction claim as "propaganda".
With reporting by DPA
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Security staff at airports enter negotiations
Friday will also see the start of arbitration for around 25,000 airport security employees and Verdi union members who check passengers, baggage, freight and staff at all airports around Germany - with the exception of Munich airport - on behalf of the Federal Police.
An agreement is expected to be reached by Sunday evening, according to sources.
It follows ongoing negotiations with flight attendant union Ufo which started on Thursday.
If there is an unsuccessful outcome for either group, it could mean that more strikes are on the horizon.
In the past months, airport strikes around Germany have led to hundreds of flight cancellations. While a wage agreement was reached last Wednesday amid ground staff, talks remain ongoing for other airport workers and could stretch into peak travel season over the summer.
READ ALSO: Could Germany soon see more airport strikes?
More than 1,000 far-right extremists in Germany 'are armed'
At the end of 2022, 1,051 suspected far-right extremists and around 400 so-called Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich), a grouping of in some cases violent extremists and conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic, as well as other individuals, were known to have at least one weapons permit, according to the German government.
A year earlier, 1,561 right-wing extremists and around 500 Reichsbürger were armed. The government does not yet have final figures on armed individuals for 2023.
A total of 181 suspected far-right extremists had their weapons licenses revoked in 2022 or returned them after pressure from the authorities.
In view of the figures, left-wing MP Martina Renner said that “concrete action by the authorities against armed Nazis and Reichsbürger” was needed.
In January last year, after exposed coup plans of a Reichsbürger group, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented an internal draft for tightening gun laws. However, coalition partner - the FDP - has so far rejected any changes to gun law and is instead focusing on better enforcement of the current law.
READ ALSO: Will Germany tighten gun laws following alleged plot to overthrow government?
Russia says man 'who tried spying for Germany' jailed
A Russian man who tried passing secrets to the German government in exchange for help moving there has been handed 12 years jail for treason, a Russian court said Thursday.
Since Russia launched its assault on Ukraine two years ago, authorities have levelled treason charges against dozens of people it accuses of aiding Kyiv and the West.
The 46-year-old resident of Siberia's Omsk region gathered secret military information and "tried to establish contact" with a German official, Omsk regional court said.
Security services detained the man in June 2023 and found him in possession of a flash drive containing the coordinates of Russian military units, according to local media reports.
The defendant was motivated by a desire to obtain "assistance in moving to Germany for permanent residence" and sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime penal colony, the court said.
German electric car sales 'very weak' in March
Sales of new cars in Germany fell in March, official data showed Thursday, dragged down by plummeting demand for electric vehicles following the phaseout of government incentives.
A total of 263,844 new cars hit roads in Europe's largest economy last month, the KBA federal transport authority said, down 6.2 percent from a year earlier.
The decrease could be partly attributed to fewer working days compared with March 2023.
But analysts said new registrations were also hit by an ongoing slump in the market for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs), after the government withdrew incentives at the end of last year.
BEV sales plunged by nearly 29 percent in March, the KBA said.
"This political decision has led to considerable uncertainty in the market," said EY analyst Constantin Gall.
German firms help 'rebuild' Russian-occupied Mariupol: report
Two German construction companies are taking part in rebuilding Russian-occupied Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that fell to Moscow's invading forces two years ago, a German press investigation claimed on Thursday.
The industrial Knauf group, which manufactures plasterboard, and WKB Systems, which produces aerated concrete, have been providing materials for construction in the city that was almost entirely flattened during the early months of the war, according to the investigation by Monitor magazine and shown on the public ARD television channel.
Monitor says it has analysed numerous images from construction sites where the Knauf logo appears, as well as detailed activity reports demonstrating the German company's presence in the port city.
Mariupol fell to Russian forces after a two-month siege that cost the lives of thousands and left the city in rubble.
The magazine also quotes an "official distributor" of Knauf's that is promoting a housing project in Mariupol, built with Knauf products on behalf of the Russian defence ministry.
Products from WKB Systems, which is majority-owned by Russian businessman Viktor Budarin, can also be seen at construction sites in Mariupol, the magazine said.
Knauf, in a statement sent to AFP, insisted it "respects all the EU, UK and American sanctions against Russia".
The Bavarian group runs 14 production sites in Russia where it employs 4,000 people.
It said its decision not to pull out of Russia - as many major German groups did following the invasion - was out of "responsibility" to its employees.
Since conquering Mariupol, Russia has published a reconstruction plan for the city, which was home to more than 400,000 Ukrainians before the invasion.
"Any enterprise participating should ask itself at whose service it is putting itself," Germany's foreign ministry told AFP, describing Russia's reconstruction claim as "propaganda".
With reporting by DPA
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