NEWS FROM BERLIN

South-west Berlin power outage blamed on “politically motivated” attack

Thousands of homes in south-west Berlin are facing prolonged power outages after high-voltage lines were damaged in what city authorities have described as a “politically motivated attack” by “left-wing extremists.” The incident, which occurred on January 3, saw a fire erupt on a cable bridge close to the Lichterfelde power plant. Initially, the disruption left more than 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses without electricity. Heating and internet services were also significantly affected. While power was restored to many households by Sunday, many others are likely to be left in the dark until January 8, agencies estimate. Authorities said they were working to confirm the authenticity of a letter claiming responsibility for the latest incident. Source: independent

What the new “operating system” brings for Berlin

The reputation of Berlin’s administration is legendary: incompetent, chaotic, insane… “Bureaucratic ping-pong” was a relatively mild description of what could happen in many Berlin government offices: either no one wanted to take responsibility—or too many people wanted to have their say. And is that all supposed to end now? “Berlin isn’t getting an update, but a completely new operating system,” Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) boldly proclaimed at the end of 2025. Among the measures, so far, there is the documentation of the responsibilities of the city administration: around 4,000 government tasks have now not only been catalogued but also assigned to 24 policy areas. Before that, there was no defined overview of them. Source: rbb

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Family reunification: virtually no visas issued for hardship cases

In the first months since the German government suspended family reunification for most refugees, almost no one has been recognized as a hardship case. According to the German government, 2,586 such cases have been reported to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) since August 2025. However, by mid-December, the Federal Foreign Office had only issued visas in two cases. This information comes from the government’s response to an inquiry from Member of Parliament Clara Bünger (Die Linke). Since last July, refugees with subsidiary protection status have only been permitted to bring partners or children to Germany in exceptional circumstances. Source: nd

Associations fear registry for trans people

A draft bill from the Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently causing an uproar. The reason is a registration data regulation that affects the Self-Determination Act. The draft stipulates that the data set for registration purposes should in future also include new data fields with the former gender entry and first names of people who have legally changed their gender. According to current plans, such changes are scheduled to come into force on November 1, 2026. Organizations such as the German Society for Trans and Intersexuality (dgti) see the planned regulation as contradicting the disclosure prohibition of the Self-Determination Act. Source: tagesschau

CSU wants to deport “most Syrians”

The CSU is demanding a further tightening of migration policy in Germany. In their draft resolution for the upcoming closed-door meeting of the CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, the members of parliament are demanding, among other things, the swift return of most Syrian refugees to their country of origin, as reported by the Münchner Merkur. There must be a “major deportation offensive” in 2026, “with scheduled flights and also to Syria and Afghanistan,” the newspaper quotes from the draft resolution. In the draft, the CSU also demands a tougher stance on the even larger group of Ukrainian refugees. Source: spiegel

Minimum sentences for attacks on emergency services might increase

Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) has announced plans to tighten criminal law to protect police, firefighters, and emergency services. Speaking to the newspapers of the Funke Media Group, she said that attacks on emergency personnel have reached “an alarming level” in recent years. She noted that “unrestrained and unacceptable attacks” occur repeatedly, particularly on New Year’s Eve. The rule of law must decisively counter this brutalization, Hubig added. Specifically, the draft law proposes increasing the minimum prison sentences for physical attacks on police, firefighters, emergency services, or bailiffs from the current three months to six months. Source: bz

Germany still struggles with digitalisation

Germany, the land of technology pioneers, still relies on fax and paper for public services. Why is its digital administration lagging while Denmark and India are making rapid progress? The European Union regularly publishes rankings of the digital development of its member states. Germany ranks, at best, in the middle of the pack among the 27 countries. When it comes to e-government, i.e., digital public services, the country is almost at the end, ranking 24th place. Among the reasons for so, Frank Reinartz, hear of the Digital Agency in Düsseldorf, believes there is a lack of coordination among the federal entities. Source: dw

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Banks terminate “Rote Hilfe” accounts

“Rote Hilfe e. V.” is a nationwide left-wing solidarity organization with around 19,000 members that has been in existence for over 100 years. It supports people who are affected by state repression because of their political activism. Within a few days, two banks ended their cooperation with the association, the Sparkasse Göttingen, followed shortly by GLS Gemeinschaftsbank. Sparkasse banks are required by law to provide public services. GLS Bank is not only a socially and ecologically oriented banking institution, but a cooperative bank, as well. According to “Rote Hilfe”, the terminations are directly related to the decision by the US government under Donald Trump to list the so-called “Antifa Ost” as a foreign terrorist organization. Source: rote hilfe

Public transportation in Berlin and Brandenburg will become more expensive in 2026

From January 1 on, prices in the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association will increase. Single tickets in fare zone AB in Berlin will then cost 4 euros for the first time. For 2026, the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB) will implement price increases for public transportation in the average of 6%. In the cities of Brandenburg an der Havel, Frankfurt (Oder), and Cottbus, single tickets will increase by 20 cents. The nationwide “Germany Ticket” will also rise, with the price for its monthly subscription going from the current €58 to €63 – an increase of over 8%. Source: tagesspiel

Sharp increase in racism in Berlin

The recently published Anti-Discrimination Report 2023/2024 by the Anti-Discrimination Network Berlin (ADNB) shows a significant increase in racism in the German capital. There were almost 20% more cases of racist discrimination recorded compared to 2021 and 2022. “This sharp increase exceeds the trend in reports in the years prior to 2023,” says the report, which has been published since 2003. This was mainly due to cases of racial discrimination in the context of demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, which were reported to the ADNB. A total of 1,957 people contacted the ADNB in 2023/2024, and 891 cases were registered. In 2024, the ADNB recorded the most official cases with the police. Source: nd-aktuell

Fewer demonstrations in Berlin in 2025 than in the previous year

Significantly fewer people demonstrated in Berlin in 2025 than in 2024. At the same time, there were more demonstrations related to the Middle East. Between January 1 and December 1 of 2025, the police counted a total of 6,501 demonstrations and gatherings in the capital, as they reported to the Evangelical Press Service (epd). Last year, there were 7,212, which is about 700 more gatherings. In 2025, 865 demonstrations were related to the Middle East. That was 100 more than in the previous year. The largest demonstration (500,000 participants) was Christopher Street Day. In second place, there was the one “For Democracy/Firewall”. The police counted around 160,000 participants, while the organizers, up to 250,000. Source: rbb

NEWS FROM GERMANY

German cabinet replacing “Bürgergeld” with “Neue Grundsicherung”

The German federal cabinet have agreed to scrap the “Bürgergeld” long-term unemployment benefit and replace the payment with “Neue Grundsicherung” (“New Basic Support”). The change still needs to be approved by the Bundestag. If it passes, it will apply from July 1, 2026. The government’s aim in doing so is to limit the number of people who claim long-term unemployment benefits, and such change is expected to demand more requirements from claimants. For instance, those who miss two appointments at Jobcentres might have their support money cut by 30%. Social organisations such as the Diakonie and the Paritätischer Gesamtverband (Parity Association) criticise such benefit sanctions. Source: iamexpat

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Berlin homeless shelter on Fuggerstraße cleared

The Asog shelter on Fuggerstraße has been cleared, according to a spokesperson for the district office. This is an emergency shelter for homeless people, which is operated based on the General Security and Public Order Act (Asog). On September 18, 2025, the Tempelhof-Schöneberg Social Housing Assistance Office ordered everyone housed there “to vacate the accommodation on Fuggerstraße,” according to the district office. The authorities did not answer why the accommodation was vacated and what happened to the people who lived there. Source: nd-aktuell

More police in Berlin than New York City

The current government in Berlin repeatedly points to the need to save money. But the correct term would be “budgeting.” The 2026/2027 double budget is the largest in Berlin’s history, but the money is distributed differently among the departments. The black-red coalition has recently made cuts primarily in education, as well as culture. However, there is one area where the government has never made cuts in the past 15 years: the police. The capital now has more police officers per capita than New York City: 723 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants in Berlin, compared to only 556 in NYC. This was researched by the Justice Collective group, a group which works on alternatives to criminalization. Source: nd-aktuell

Drones made in Tegel: Berlin wants to become a “defense hub”

One of Berlin’s most important drone manufacturers is located on the ground floor of an old building in Moabit. There is no glossy lobby, no reception area, no futuristic atrium as one might imagine in a state-of-the-art defense tech company – just a sign that reads “Germandrones.” But in the words of Klaus Scho, founder and CEO of Germandrones, there is no hint of modesty. “We want to be one of the leading manufacturers of defense systems.” The timing could hardly be better: Berlin wants to specifically promote and recruit companies from the military and security infrastructure in the future. Source: rbb

NEWS FROM GERMANY

German Christmas markets: five arrested over plot

Five men were arrested in Germany suspected of being involved in a plot to drive a vehicle into people at a Christmas market. Officials in the country have been on high alert after previous attacks at Christmas markets, including in Magdeburg last December that killed six people. Authorities did not say when the planned attack was supposed to take place or which market was the target, though they said they believed it to be one in the Dingolfing-Landau area, northeast of Munich. The five suspects appeared before a magistrate on December 13 and remain in custody. Source: bbc

Germany and Russia: air traffic control cyber-attack

Germany accused Russia of a cyber-attack on air traffic control and attempted electoral interference. A foreign ministry spokesman said Russian military intelligence was behind a “cyber-attack against German air traffic control in August 2024”. The spokesman also accused Russia of seeking to influence and destabilise the country’s federal election in February of 2025. Those accusations come amid heightened concern in Europe over suspected Russian cyber-attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia´s embassy in Berlin affirmed that “The accusations of Russian state structures’ involvement in these incidents and in the activities of hacker groups in general are baseless, unfounded and absurd.” Source: bbc

CDU and Green politicians advocate social media ban for young people

According to a report from “Bild”, politicians from the CDU and Green parties have spoken out in favor of a social media ban modeled on Australia’s. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien (CDU) spoke out in favor of stronger regulation. However, according to her, “A ban alone will not be the only solution: parents, schools, and politicians have a responsibility here and should already be doing everything they can to better protect their children.” Among other things, she advocated for mandatory age verification. At present in Germany, social media users must be at least 13 years old. The federal chairwoman of the Green Party, Franziska Brantner, also spoke out in favor of an age limit. Source: berliner-Zeitung

AfD member of parliament accused of giving “Hitler salute”

With a kick and a “Hitler salute” – this is how AfD member of parliament Matthias Moosdorf is said to have greeted a party colleague in the Bundestag on June 22, 2023. He is being charged for this. Moosdorf denies the allegations. He has recently been involved in other controversies. For instance, the former foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group was ordered in September to pay an internal fine of €2,000 after an unauthorized trip to Russia. In October 2024, it became known that the musician is an honorary professor at a Moscow music academy. Source: tagesschau

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Berlin: reform allows the police to secretly enter homes to install Trojans

With the majority of the CDU and SPD coalition and the votes of the opposition AfD, the Berlin House of Representatives passed a far-reaching amendment to the General Security and Public Order Act (ASOG) on December 4. The reform gives the police powers that deeply infringe on fundamental rights and cross previous red lines in the capital’s security policy. A bone of contention is the combination of digital surveillance and physical intrusion: to monitor encrypted communications, investigators will in future be allowed not only to hack IT systems, but also to secretly enter the homes of suspects, according to the Senate draft and the amendments made by members of parliament. Source: heise.de

Berlin Asog reform: Fast green light for the intrusive state

The state government took less than six months to review the biggest legislative change in recent years in Berlin Parliament. On December 4, the coalition and the AfD faction voted in favor of the reform of the General Security and Public Order Act (Asog). The Asog reform was thus passed despite massive criticism from the opposition, the state data protection commissioner, and numerous legal and civil rights associations. It is the second Asog reform under the CDU/SPD coalition within two years. Critics fear that the reform will turn the capital into a surveillance metropolis. Vasili Franco (Greens) said in the House of Representatives that the reform would catapult the country “right back to 1984.” Source: nd-aktuell

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Railway boss announces investigation into Stuttgart 21

The new Deutsche Bahn (DB) boss, Evelyn Palla, has announced internal investigations into the Stuttgart 21 railway project. The reason for this is the renewed delays. “In the coming weeks, we will analyze what we need to do differently than in the past, particularly in terms of project management,” said Palla in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”. Among the issues to be reviewed, there is the performance of the Japanese IT supplier, Hitachi, which must answer about the implementation of its complex project. “No stone will be left unturned,” Palla affirmed. The next S21´s meeting is to take place on December 15, and Palla is expected to attend. Source: tagesschau

Decided by a chancellor majority

The Chancelor Friedrich Merz (CDU) wanted the “chancellor majority” – and he got it. On December 5, 319 members of parliament—an absolute majority—voted in the Bundestag in favor of the reform package presented by the “black-red” coalition, which sets the pension level at 48% by law until 2031. SPD MP Dagmar Schmidt asserted before the assembled elected representatives that the federal government is thus `renewing’ a “welfare state promise”, though this perspective is highly disputed. The Greens and the AfD voted no. The Left Party abstained – despite criticism. Until the very end, it was unclear whether the 18 members of the so-called Young Group in the Union would have approved of the plan. Source: jungewelt

Young people fight back

On December 5, pupils went on strike across Germany instead of attending school: organized by the alliance “Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht” (School Strike Against Conscription), more than 40,000 students took to the streets in over 80 cities, according to the organizer’s figures. They protested against the “military service modernization law” of the “black-red” federal government. According to police reports, the strike centers were in Berlin, Kiel, and Munich. How did the Bundestag react to the student demonstrations? Although SPD MP Siemtje Möller praised the civic engagement of young people in the country during the debate, she also called for a strong Bundeswehr and a “resilient population.” Source: jungewelt

Pensions: after the package comes the reform

No sooner had the “pension package” been narrowly approved by the coalition parties in the Bundestag than politicians, association representatives, and academics began competing to come up with proposals for securing the statutory pension system. Unfortunately, the pension commission, which will soon begin its work, has been given a straitjacket that excludes ideas for expanding pension revenues. Yet those would be necessary in view of the decline in the number of contributors. This would fill the pension fund, allowing pension levels for long-term employees with lower incomes to be raised. Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) wants to discuss the BDA (Confederation of German Employers’ Associations) model of “retirement age based on life expectancy”. Source: jungewelt

Black and Muslim have a particularly difficult time when renting an apartment

The study “Unequal Housing – Racism and Living Conditions” by the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) shows that people who experience racism are less likely to be invited to view apartments. They also tend to live in more cramped and precarious conditions. For the study, almost 10,000 people were surveyed between August 2024 and January 2025. Frank Kalter, DeZIM´s director, also explained that the empirical approach to the topic of racism is “extremely challenging.” In the research, those who experience racism are more likely to have fixed-term contracts than non-racialized people (12% vs. 3%), or index-linked leases (13% vs. 9%). Source: taz

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Berlin’s rent rebellion goes on

Almost every week, the media reports that rents in Berlin continue to rise. But where then are the protests of the rent rebels, who have been talked about this past decade? Matthias Coers coined the term “rent rebels” in 2014 for a documentary film. Even though such large street protests have become less frequent, the tenants’ movement is not dead, Coers says. “Due to the conflicts imposed by the real estate industry, tenants are active in many places.” There is, for instance, the initiative “Rent Madness Alliance,” where tenants and organisations can look for (and publish) planned actions. Source: nd-aktuell

The ban and dispersal were unlawful

The Berlin police’s dispersal and ban of the Palestine Congress last April was unlawful. This was the ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court on November 26. More specifically, the court found that the action was disproportionate because the police had “not seriously considered” alternatives to the ban and dispersal. This constituted an illegitimate restriction of freedom of expression and assembly. This marks another setback for the Berlin police in their handling of pro-Palestinian protests. Lawyer Michael Plöse told the “taz” that the court had made “the only possible decision regarding the Palestine Congress that could be made without fatal consequences for fundamental rights in Germany.” Source: taz

Berlin: record number of naturalization lawsuits

By the end of last October, the Berlin Administrative Court had already received almost 2,000 lawsuits due to excessively long naturalization procedures. This is almost 20% more than in 2024. The president of the Administrative Court, Erna Viktoria Xalter, has contacted Senator for Justice Felor Badenberg (CDU) considering the flood of lawsuits. According to her, naturalization lawsuits now account for approximately 10% of all cases at the Administrative Court. The situation is apparently exacerbated by the fact that some law firms are actively soliciting clients, promising that filing a lawsuit will accelerate the naturalization process. However, the Interior Ministry warns that the opposite often happens. Source: rbb

New Bürgeramt box installed in Berlin

A citizens’ office (Bürgeramt) in Berlin has installed a 24/7 box which allows residents to come by and collect their new passports, ID cards and residence permits without having to make an appointment. The first of such boxes has been installed in the Berlin district of Reinickendorf. Residents still need to visit the Bürgeramt in person to renew their German passport, ID card or residence permit. The document box functions much like a remote package pick-up station. The Bürgeramt box is the first of its kind in Berlin, but such boxes have previously been installed in Freiberg, Saxony, and Rheine, North Rhine-Westphalia. Source: iamexpat

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Housing shortage in western Germany is worse than expected

Research from the Pestel Institute has found that western German federal states are currently short of 1.2 million housing units, a considerably higher figure than previously predicted. The institute called on the German government to fund all areas of housing construction, including social housing, privately financed rental homes and owner-occupied housing. Between 2023 and 2024 housing construction in Germany dropped by 14.4%, to 251,900 units, considerably below the goal of 400,000 new units set by the then SPD-Greens-FDP government. In response to Pestel’s findings, the VdK, Germany’s social welfare association, said that social housing construction should be massively expanded and that newly constructed social housing should be accessible. Source: iamexpat

New AfD Youth: a far-right training ground?

On its path to power, the AfD expelled its former youth organization, “Junge Alternative” (Young Alternative), at the beginning of 2025: too extreme, too many scandals. This group openly maintained contact with anti-constitutional organizations like the Identitarian Movement. And because even those who weren’t members of the AfD could become members of the “Young Alternative,” the party had no way to sanction undesirable behavior. The AfD is therefore founding a new youth organization. The crucial question will be: how much right-wing extremism will have a place in the youth organization after its reorganization? Source: dw

Fridays for conscientious objection

Fridays are back! Students in Germany will be on December 5 on strike again. Now, it will not be primarily about the climate crisis – but rather about not being burned by the state for its wars. School strikes against compulsory military service have been registered in over 80 cities. In Berlin, the central rally begins at 8 a.m. at “Platz der Republik”. The original idea called attention to the environment. However, with escalating social crises such as Antifa groups being declared terrorists, the starting conditions for the new Fridays´ demonstrations are somewhat different: protesters want show that the militarization of society is not a defense of democracy, but a threat to it. Source: taz