NEWS FROM BERLIN

Number of applications for naturalisation increased sharply in Berlin

The number of applications for naturalisation in Berlin has recently risen noticeably. In June, around 4,000 applications were received by the State Office for Immigration (LAE), an average of 133 per day, a spokesperson told the German Press Agency on request. From 27 June to 21 July, the office had already received over 5,000 applications – an average of around 200 per day. No figures are yet available for the whole of July. The new citizenship law formulated by the traffic-light coalition in the federal government stipulates that naturalisation is now possible after five years instead of the previous eight – provided the applicant fulfils all conditions. Source: rbb

Public-private partnership costs Berlin several billions

The organisation ‘Gemeingut in BürgerInnenhand’ criticised the construction of schools by the Howoge Group in Berlin. ‘Gemeingut in BürgerInnenhand’ has been monitoring the Berlin School Construction Offensive (BSO) since 2016. In particular, the association pointed out that outsourcing to the housing association Howoge is a public-private partnership and harbours considerable risks. Last year, the initiative revealed that a total of €11.7 billion was to be spent on Howoge schools instead of the originally stated €1 billion – for the same number of school places. The organisation believes the Berlin government has to focus on aid for overcrowded and dilapidated schools. Source: jW

CSD: neo-Nazis arrested at Potsdamer Platz

Police appear to have prevented an attack on Christopher Street Day, taking around 30 members of a far-right group into preventative custody last Saturday. The suspects occasionally flashed ‘white power’ hand signals. According to police information, this group – consisting of more than two dozen right-wing extremists – came to Berlin with the intention of creating confusion and attacking people during the CSD pride demonstration. Those ambitions were thwarted by police intervention when the group was handcuffed and removed from the area in prisoner transport vehicles. While the minors among the group were immediately released, the adults were kept in custody until after midnight; all have since been released. Source: theberliner

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Change of strategy at the Ministry of Construction

Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) is no longer pursuing the goal of boosting social housing construction in urban centres so that everyone can find affordable accommodation there. Instead, she now wants to encourage city dwellers to move to the provinces. ‘There are almost two million empty flats in Germany. But there is a huge demand in our major cities and metropolitan regions. We will therefore present a strategy against the vacancy rate at the end of the year,’ Geywitz announced in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. ‘We should be ready in November.’ Source: jW

AfD candidate Björn Höcke threatens the police

Last Saturday, two sides clashed in Saalfeld, Thuringia: the party AfD had invited people to a ‘family festival’ on the market square. Opponents organised their own event and called it a ‘festival of democracy.’ During a speech by party leader Björn Höcke, there was a loud protest. He then called on the officers to take action: ‘I ask the police to stop attacking this gathering and to enforce Section 21 of the Assembly Act.’ He then became more explicit: ‘If that doesn’t work, I’ll be at the local police station afterwards and 1000 people with me.’ Source: welt

Concentration camp secretary as assistant to the mass murderers?

It could be the last concentration camp trial. Today, the Federal Court of Justice heard the case of a former concentration camp secretary. Irmgard F. had defended herself against her conviction for aiding and abetting mass murder. The Itzehoe district court had sentenced the now 99-year-old Irmgard F. to two years’ probation for aiding and abetting murder in more than 10,000 cases in the Stutthof concentration camp. The case is centred on a fundamental question: could a secretary in a Nazi concentration camp have been an accomplice to thousands of mass murders? A verdict is due to be announced on 20 August. Source: tagesschau

Red tape: immigrants frustrated at German citizenship bureaucracy

Immigrants applying for German citizenship spoke of their disillusionment with the country and its bureaucracy. The experience is only likely to get worse as more people apply. Because of this, many skilled workers in Germany have formed social media groups where they vent their anger about dealing with German bureaucracy. In late June, some organized a protest outside Berlin’s office for immigration, the LEA, calling for ‘a fair and transparent processing of citizenship applications.’ Many even feel that only legal action will get them to the top of the pile — by filing a so-called ‘Untätigkeitsklage,’ or ‘failure to act lawsuit,’ against the immigration authorities. Source: dw

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Climate activist jailed for one year and four months

The Tiergarten district court has sentenced a 32-year-old ‘Last Generation’ activist to a prison sentence for one year and four months without probation. Between October 2022 and February 2023, she constantly taped herself to roads or to traffic sign bridges and, together with other activists, she started road blockades. On 7 March 2023, the group also carried out a paint attack on the listed façade of the Federal Ministry of Transport with the help of a rented fire engine. According to reports, the removal of the paint cost around 7,400 euros. Source: rbb

Ver.di puts indefinite strikes for daycare centres to a vote

The trade union ver.di wis to call on its members among daycare centre employees in Berlin to vote on strikes for an indefinite period. The ballot is to begin at the beginning of September. If more than 75 per cent vote in favour of a so-called enforced strike, ver.di could call for an indefinite strike in state-owned daycare centres, according to the union’s statement. Explaining its decision, ver.di said that the Senate has still not signalled that it will enter into negotiations. This week warning strikes are expected in the capital, but without actual closures. Source: rbb

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Lieferando: backdoor wage cuts?

‘Lieferando Workers Collective’ (LWC) protested in Berlin against the big delivery company. The LWC claims to have collected 330 signatures as part of a petition to draw attention to inadequate working conditions. A new pay scale is causing such discontentment. In the future, full-time employees will earn 300 to 400 euros less net, explains a member of the LWC at the rally. Previously, a delivery-based ‘peak time bonus’ of two euros per order applied to particularly order-intensive shifts. This performance-based regulation has been criticised for everal reasons, among them them is the increase in the risk of accidents. ‘Lieferando has not reduced wages,’ the company continues to claim. Source: nd-aktuell

A tough world

A lawsuit filed by the daily newspaper ‘Junge Welt’ against the Federal Republic of Germany was dismissed by the Berlin Administrative Court on Thursday. The newspaper published in Berlin had taken legal action against being labelled as ‘left-wing extremist’ in the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s report. According to ‘Junge Welt’ in a special edition on the subject, the term ‘left-wing extremist’ is not only damaging to business, but also contradicts freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. ‘Junge Welt’ intends to take its case, rejected at first instance, all the way to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. Source: nd-akutell

Germany’s coalition agrees on a budget for next year

Germany’s Cabinet has agreed on a draft budget for 2025, with policies intended to counter recent weak economic growth. The total budget for 2025 is €480.6 billion – €8 billion less than in 2024. Despite this, Germany’s finance ministry has allocated a record €78 billion for investments. However, the budget is not as thrifty as some expected, with most parts of government receiving more money than last year, including the transport, interior, family, defense, foreign and education ministries. Tax advantages are planned, among other things, to attract foreign skilled workers to Germany and to increase spending on research and development. Source: dw

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Many injured and arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin

On Saturday evening, a pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin saw multiple arrests and injuries. Under the slogan “Stop the Gaza genocide,” the demonstration marched from the Rathaus Steglitz underground station via Walther-Schreiber-Platz to Innsbrucker Platz in Schöneberg. It was organised to run from 2pm to 7pm and the police counted around 600 participants. During the rally, the police said bottles were thrown at officers. According to the fire brigade, several police officers were injured, as were eight participants in the demonstration, one of whom severely. Source: rbb

BSW now also in Berlin

Far away from the centre of the capital, in the eastern suburb of Adlershof, the fifth regional association of the BSW was founded on Sunday. A few dozen members met in “Theater Ost,” a small stage in the middle of the newly created “Media City,” to elect the board and other committees. A banner with the slogan “The sun rises in the east” is emblazoned on the façade of the building. The controversial blogger Manaf Hassan, who is regarded as an Assad and Putin propagandist, is among those running for the extended board. Source: taz

When the state fails

In Berlin, four women became victims of femicide within four weeks. The state hesitates in the fight against patriarchal violence due to concerns about data protection. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office’s (BKA) “Domestic Violence” report, there were 155 femicides across Germany last year. “Where is the social outcry?” asks Lilly S. from the “Stop femicides!” initiative. The group has already counted 51 femicides this year, but suspects that the number of unreported cases is high. “The BKA’s statistics are not comprehensive enough,” criticises Lilly S. Besides. The activist also insists that media reporting often contributes to the trivialisation of femicides. Source: taz

NEWS FROM GERMANY

“Disarm Kiel – sink the arms industry”

From 3 to 8 September, antimilitarists from various countries plan a camp in Kiel under the motto “Disarm Kiel – Sink the arms industry.” The action will end with a supra-regional antimilitarist demonstration in Kiel on 7 September. The city is a hotspot for the arms industry today. The spokesperson for the antimilitarist alliance “Disarm Rheinmetall” sees the need to resist this. In recent years, the antimilitarist alliance has organised action camps in front of sites related to the arms industry, each lasting several days, to demonstrate that anti-militarism is possible in theory and practice. The camp was held twice in Unterlüss, Lower Saxony, the headquarters of the Rheinmetall Group. Source: nd

Police officers in racist chat get away with it

From 2014 to 2018, police officers exchanged right-wing extremist and racist content in chat groups. However, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court does not consider this to be a criminal offence – due to a loophole. The content had not been disseminated, but only posted in private, closed chat groups with a manageable number of people, and some members were very closely connected to each other. The chat group of officers from the 1st Frankfurt police station had been uncovered during investigations into the “NSU 2.0” complex. Source: migazin

How right-wing is Brandenburg?

Statements considered right-wing or extreme right-wing are in some cases very popular in Brandenburg. This is the result of a representative survey conducted by Infratest Dimap on behalf of WDR. Experts say this is a deepening of an existing trend. Based on the collected data, Infratest Dimap concluded that 8% of respondents have an extreme right-wing worldview. Among AfD supporters, these figures are significantly higher: 23% showed an extreme right-wing attitude. According to Roland Verwiebe, professor of sociology at the University of Potsdam, many people are drifting to the right out of insecurity and because they have lost trust in central social institutions. Source: rbb

Germany condemns a plot to assassinate Rheinmetall boss

German politicians are stunned over a report that Russia planned to murder a German arms company boss. US intelligence is said to have uncovered the plot against Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger. Rheinmetall is among the largest European suppliers of armour technology and artillery shells to Ukraine. On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said Russia was waging a hybrid war of aggression in the West, without referring to any plot explicitly. The Kremlin dismissed reports of the alleged assassination plot, claiming that the report relies on anonymous sources and lacks “serious documentation.” Source: dw

Storms, hail, rain, lightning – and a tornado?

Storms caused severe damage in large parts of Germany over the weekend. In Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saxony, there were hundreds of police and fire brigade interventions: around 320 storm-related operations were reported to the police. The main focus was on the eastern and upper Allgäu regions and the west of the Lindau district. In the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Telgte, a tornado-like storm caused severe damage to an industrial estate. Leipzig, in Saxony, was flooded in some places on Friday afternoon. Source: tagesschau

Görlitz-Zgorzelec: on the edge of legality

The bridge between Görlitz and the Polish town of Zgorzelec is not just a bridge – it is a symbol. It was blown up by the Nazis in 1945 and only rebuilt in 2004. On 16 October 2023, stationary border controls were set up for the first time on the bridge, as well as at other points on the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland – initially for three months. Permanent controls would violate the EU Schengen Agreement. Temporary border controls are permitted, but only if there is a “serious threat to public policy or internal security.” The “serious threat” with which the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) legally justifies the controls: the “smuggling of migrants.” Source: nd

NEWS FROM BERLIN

280 Berlin “Kitas” on strike for 5 days

The union ver.di wants minimum staffing ratios and increased staff training for daycare centres (“Kitas”), but an ongoing conflict between them and the Berlin Senate is in deadlock. Last Monday a “warning strike” began, closing 280 daycare centres across the city and impacting around 35,000 children. The union is not demanding more money for its workers, but Kita employees are trying to get the Berlin Senate to agree on a number of policies, among them minimum staffing ratios, rules to protect the health of staff, improved training and more time for educational work aimed at increasing the overall quality of care. Source: The Berliner

AfD loses bank account

The AfD has lost its account with Berliner Volksbank. This was announced by Omas gegen Rechts after a meeting with the bank’s CEO, Carsten Jung. The anti-fascist senior citizens initiated a petition on the online platform innn.it two months ago and have now collected more than 33,500 signatures in favour of ending Berliner Volksbank’s business relationship with the party. The bank itself did not want to confirm the move, citing banking confidentiality . However, when asked by the taz newspaper whether the donation account had been closed, they were told: “Have a look at the AfD website.” On the party’s website, the option of donating by bank transfer to the account at Berliner Volksbank has disappeared. Source: taz

Neo-Nazis beat several people to the ground in Berlin

In Berlin, right-wing extremists attacked a group of people on their way to a demonstration in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district. Several people were injured. According to witnesses, the masked perpetrators were armed with wooden clubs, batons, quartz gloves and tear gas. The attack took place on Saturday afternoon at Ostkreuz in front of a Biomarkt. The anti-fascists had met there to travel together to the demonstration. Up to 20 neo-Nazis stormed into the group of people waiting at Ostkreuz in rows of two and attacked “two at a time.” A police spokesman mentioned that a federal police officer was also attacked and injured when she tried to intervene. Source: t-online

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Hartz IV returns

The federal government wants to use stricter rules to encourage more recipients of the so-called ‘citizen’s allowance’ to take up work. This is part of a 31-page catalogue of measures, the “Growth initiative – new economic dynamism for Germany” published by the government last week. This annoncment has come while the introduction of ‘basic child benefit’, approved in the coalition-governments agreement, has not been implemented according to the planning and has received no public response. It had always been described as one of the government’s most important social policy projects. Seven social associations and the DGB had already warned against a freeze on citizen’s allowance. Source: jungewelt

Major construction kicks off to fix Germany’s railways

On July 15th the state-owned railway company, “Deutsche Bahn (DB)” will start a massive renovation program. It plans to renew 40 main train routes by 2030. Each of them will be closed for several months while construction work is carried out. The first slated for renewal is the line connecting Frankfurt and Mannheim known as the Riedbahn. This plan – the largest infrastructure program in DB’s history – is expected to cost €45 billion. Train delays with DB have steadily increased in recent years. In 2023, less than two-thirds of long-distance trains reached their destination on time – a record low. Source: dw

German defense minister not satisfied with the military budget gap

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) expressed his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the budget negotiations for the country’s defense budget. A coalition deal on next year’s domestic budget provides less for the armed forces in 2025 than Pistorius had demanded as Germany seeks to beef up its armed forces. However, while the budget may not have met Pistorius’s hopes, it still keeps German defense spending above the NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product. Meanwhile, German military high officers have warned that additional funds are needed immediately for Germany to be combat-ready in five years. Source: dw

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Street renamed and inaugurated after black lesbian feminist

In Berlin-Kreuzberg, part of Manteuffelstraße was renamed Audre-Lorde-Straße back in September 2023, causing confusion among residents, parcel deliverers and authorities, since the official inauguration only took place recently. At the inauguration, district mayor Clara Herrmann (Greens) apologised for the fact that the renaming had “taken longer.” The reason given by the administration for not putting up new street signs for months was that the renaming process had led to unforeseeable problems. The new street name brings more diversity to Berin. It honours the black lesbian feminist Audre Lorde, who taught at the FU Berlin in the 1980s and 1990s. Source: freilich

NEWS FROM GERMANY

New citizenship law comes into force

On Thursday, 27 June 2024, the Act on the Modernisation of the Citizenship Law comes into force. With it, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is implementing a key reform. People who work in Germany and are well integrated can become German citizens after just five years instead of eight. Moreover, they no longer need to give up their previous citizenship. Under strict conditions, naturalisation will also be possible in the future after three years. At the same time, the requirements for commitment to the free democratic basic order will become stricter: naturalization will be ruled out when racism or antisemitism is identified. Source: bmi

Hundreds of right-wing extremists in the police

Within one and a half years, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has dealt with a total of 739 cases of employees of security authorities with indications of possible right-wing extremist attitudes. The current report covers the period from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022 and looks at both state and federal authorities. According to the report, state authorities accounted for 189 cases. However, the Federal Ministry of the Interior points out that more than half of the suspected cases and the cases in which actual indications were found had already been reported in the previous status report. Source: taz

AfD party conference in Essen: football and federal cooperation

Before the party conference in Essen, there was much speculation about how the AfD leadership would deal with the turbulence of recent months. Neither Alice Weidel nor Tino Chrupalla cut a good figure in the affairs surrounding Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron. Things turned out quite differently in Essen. Weidel opened the party conference with a welcoming speech, speaking about her party using football metaphors, saying that the “team” has to make a “tactical change”, even if a “talented player” (Krah) must leave. Churupalla cited the cooperation within the federal executive and with the state chairmen as an important point in his work review. Source: nd

Nothing new for the East

First in Saxony and Thuringia, then a few weeks later in Brandenburg: in all three states, the AfD threatens to become the strongest force. This would be a fiasco for the CDU in the states, but also for the party chairman Friedrich Merz. So what to do? Last weekend, Merz invited the party presidium, i.e., the inner circle of leadership, to Berlin. An important campaigner was not present, though: Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer. Officially, there were scheduling problems, but one can also speculate that the Kretschmer did not really wish to participate in the meeting. Source: tagesschau

Euro 2024: the AfD and a debate over ‘woke’ national team

During Euro 2024, many German politicians are supporting the host team, but this is not the case of several members of the far-right AfD party. According to them, the German team is not German enough. They do not share the sense of pride in the country’s role as host or the hope for another victory like that during the Germany-hosted 2006 World Cup. AfD leaders such as Maximilian Krah and Björn Höcke complain instead about Germany having become “woke,” “politically correct,” and “the rainbow team.” Source: dw

German weapons exports on the way to a new record

Arms exports from Germany rose 30% in the first semester of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, as shown by data from the Ministry for the Economy. If the trend continues for the remainder of the year, the total value of arms sales is set to reach a new record. Between January 1 and June 18, the government approved total weapons exports worth at least €7.48 billion. The surge in exports comes despite the governing coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promising to curb arms deliveries when it took office in December 2021, especially to non-European Union and NATO members. Source: dw

Millions on the sideline

“Every seventh child in Germany is at risk of poverty,” the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday. According to the Office, children and young people of parents with “lower” educational qualifications are disproportionately affected. Meanwhile, the traffic light coalition is allowing its “‘central social policy project’ – basic child benefit – to wither away,” Christoph Butterwegge, a political scientist from the University of Köln, commented. Since the beginning of the debate, it has been “a tactical stalemate within the traffic light coalition,” continued the inequality researcher, who says that the basic child benefit to be launched only in 2025 is “a waste of time.” Source: jW