Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
It’s amazing how the prospect of a four-day week can focus the mind.
Friedrich Merz has been busy on his travels since he became chancellor at the beginning of May, but had somehow only managed two short visits to states in eastern Germany before this week. Both were trips to military sites and his seeming lack of interest has led to observations that people in the east feel “like second class citizens”.
It seems an odd oversight by Merz, given the rising popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in eastern states – and the fact that he has frequently described his desire to undermine support for the party as justification for his government’s hard line on immigration.
Still, he finally made it to Thuringia on Thursday for talks with the leaders of the eastern states, perhaps prompted by a note in his calendar reminding him that Germany will celebrate 35 years of national unity on October 3rd.
In truth, there have been more than a few moments this week when it’s felt as if unity is in desperately short supply.
It hasn’t been all bad. The Berlin marathon attracted nearly 80,000 participants from 160 nations – including runners, wheelchair athletes, handcyclists, and skaters – with tens of thousands of spectators lining the streets to cheer them on. Oktoberfest continues to work its magic in Bavaria and, increasingly, across the country. And there's plenty more to look forward to in the way of big communal events.
But the week also began with rival pro-life and pro-choice demonstrations in Cologne, attended by a roughly equal number of protesters.
And it continued with a bad-tempered general debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday during which the Left and Green parties accused the government of trying to dismantle Germany’s welfare state, while the leader of the far-right AfD indulged in a bizarre form of pillow talk, alternately calling Merz a “bankrupt chancellor” then urging him to work with her party to fulfil his “promises on immigration control, economic reform, and security”.
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As is increasingly the case on these occasions, the centre-left SPD, in coalition with Merz’s conservative Union party, looked as if they would rather be almost anywhere else.
At the same time, a separate row broke out over the appointment of a new boss for struggling Deutsche Bahn when the railway trade union EVG voted against designee Evelyn Palla.
Employer representatives on the supervisory board voted in her favour, and their majority ensured that Palla’s appointment succeeded. But it looks as if Deutsche Bahn’s first female CEO will take the reins next Wednesday with a less than overwhelming endorsement from her staff.
What can we all agree on?
Sometimes life down here can just seem too complicated, which is probably why so many government ministers could be found at a space congress which took place in Berlin this week.
Eye-catching announcements from the event included plans to invest €35 billion by 2030 in a comprehensive outer space defence strategy.
This government is keen on space, appointing Dorothee Bär as Germany's first dedicated Minister for Space earlier this year and investing in the Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon. At the moment, the German Aerospace Centre is busy developing habitat modules, lunar training facilities, and infrastructure concepts for lunar bases.
These are bold initiatives. Whether they're quite real – and whether they have the potential to excite and unite the nation (in addition to making it safe from invasion) – remains a question for another time.
Until then, enjoy the weekend – and don’t forget to stay up to speed with everything that’s changing in October in Germany.
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