Up until this past week....the EU had been set to ban combustion engines....by 2035.
Well....Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic...fought hard, and it appears that the ban....will not occur.
The change? The EU will shift to emissions reduction targets. Meaning, engines built today can still be built and sold.
Job losses still in play? Well....yeah. A lot spent on e-car development, and the bulk of Germans aren't that eager to buy into it.
Yesterday....the wife and I went into Wiesbaden....to a new grocery on the SE part of town....with a underground parking situation.
Some sign with ultra-small fine-print.....then we entered the underground parking area. So we stepped out of the car, and read the sign (close-up).
Well...it basically says a camera read your plate upon entry....you need to pay 3 Euro to exit, or buy something at the grocery to get a scan-type coupon (making it free). If you drive out without either....you get a legal form in the mail for 45 Euro (fine) by this company monitoring things.
A hassle? If you were a older German....you might miss the sign and get this warning letter.
The odds of me ever going back? Near one-percent.
Second story? Well....the store had premium-coffee in a locked-up case.
I pondered this....all these years in Germany and never having seen a lock-up situation for premium coffee. If you needed some? You'd have to chat with the manager, and he'd get you a 'bag'.
Over the past several days in Germany....there have been repeated acts of sabotage against electrical substations across the country.
Well....this AM (Friday)....another attempt....in Lower Saxony.
So as of noon....cops have an idea of who is involved (NOT Putin or his thugs).....appears to be German citizen.....militant climate activist.
His big deal? Well....he wants to fight fossil fuels. Yes....fossil fuels.
Nutcase-level? I would suggest that some type of mental review will probably occur...he might avoid charges/jail...by establishing his mental control is 'lacking'.
Yeah....oddball case, and will get dragged around to be discussed a good bit.
This leading back to mental stability (lack of) in a group of environmentalists? It's hard to say a number but it's painfully obvious that people take climate control to a level of some Marvel-movie adventure.
This week....if you follow ARD/ZDF (public TV in Germany).....there's mostly hype over Russia saying Germany is near to "destroying" all political and economic relationships with Putin's Russia.
There was a unique political relationship between West Germany and the Soviet Union....coming out of the 1960s....mostly between the SPD leadership, and the necessity for 'cheap' natural gas/oil. This drove the economic relationship.
Adding to this....the bulk of economic-power that Germans often talk about....is related to the flow of natural gas and oil. The Soviets, and later....the Russians....built a great middle-class level. The Ukraine-war? It basically destroyed the business model....for both Russia (Putin) and Germany (for both the SPD and CDU).
Presently, if the war were to end....Germany and Russia would both likely be back to natural gas 'trading', and a economic recovery for both would occur. If we linger another two or three years, in some war without value? I'd suggest both would find economical recovery fairly difficult.
Russia's economic standing? Pretty close to between Brazil and Italy.
Well....if you bundle up the issues....then yes.
For 2025....Germany’s population was 83,467,117 (about 83.5 million).
Decline? Yeah....roughly 110,000 people, or 0.1-percent (over 2024).
Producing kids? The rate is now at 1.32 per female.
Oddly....if you break it down....German women are fairly close to 1.2, while non-German women are near 1.78.
Blame? More German women prioritize jobs/income over having kids.
Some Germans (mostly women) are concerned over climate change....feeling lesser populations are a plus.
Where all of this leads onto? If you do a spread sheet and figure numbers for 2046....it's probably a population of 77-million, and continuing onto 70-million by 2066.
German industry/commerce set for trouble? Well....if VW and the car companies continue to downsize....you don't need to worry about a manpower shortage.
Did I mention that 288,000 Germans exited/left the country in 2025, and a minimum of 250k probably will leave in 2026? Most wanted better salary levels, lower taxes, and more opportunities.
In some odd way....the California-strategy of downsizing....has been recreated here in Germany, and been fairly successful.
I sat last night watching ARD (public TV) and a news segment on a housing 'crisis'.
So....the basic story....the German Tenants' Association got onto the housing market crisis.
In their mind....Germany is around 1.4 million apartments/homes 'short'. So this problem leads to a welfare state problem. To fix it? They want the German federal gov't to build more units, and have some type of rent-brakes.
I've sat and reviewed over the past decade. It's an odd problem.
Germany (in the old West Germany days....before 1990)....had a fair amount of city/state-owned apartment buildings.....with set rents. In the 1980s....the city governments got a bit worried....most of the units were reaching 30-to-50 years old and required renovation. None of them were making enough to clearly cover the cost of renovation.
The federal response? They'd sell the units/buildings to a commercial company....use profits to cover some renovation and get out of city-run social housing.
What they didn't really expect.....the commercial operations did renovate housing....but came up to charge a fair amount of increase on rent. In some cases....it pushed renters out of highly urbanized regions (Bremen, Frankfurt, Munich and so-on).
What these associations want.....is a re-creation of social housing, and limited rents....meaning the income level for the city/state....would not be enough to cover renovation in 20-to-30 years.
Added to this 'burden'....it is apparent that plenty of housing exists....if you consider all of the country, but in the urbanized zone (the cities of 200k or more)....the draw of public interest to live there....instead of the rural areas....is another issue by itself.
It is a problem....but the solutions simply lay a path for bigger problems.
This week....I asked Grok (AI) to assemble the data on the German sugar-tax deal (still in draft form) and figure the per-person cost.
So....if you kept drinking your average amount of soda....at the average end....you'd have a yearly cost of 30-to-36 Euro. But then Grok said....you pay the sugar tax prior to the VAT....so the sugar tax-plus-VAT is around 35 to 43 Euro (per person).
But then Grok said....suppose you drink lesser sugar items (like ice tea or lemonade).....then your yearly cost is around 20 to 35 Euro.
Family of four? Still consuming sugar drinks? Figure in the 120 Euro range.
Enough to force a change of habit? I pondered upon this. With all the hyped-up cigarette taxation....there's virtually no data to suggest that people quit or lessened because of the taxes. Some data suggests that people went to rolling their smokes (thus saving money) or crossing the border into Luxembourg to buy lesser taxed smokes. I might go and suggest fewer than 5-percent of society cut sugar consumption.
What might happen? In three years....new coalition....new tax strategy....perhaps doubling of the sugar tax.
1. VW cost story....BILD did a comparison story over cost. VW-to-build-a-car per hour? 74 Euro.
To run the factory (electrical, cooling, heat, etc)....VW has drill around 4,850 Euro of each car to this detail.
In simple terms....it makes little sense to continue making VW's in Germany...when you have thirty-odd countries with a lesser cost situation for man-hours, electrical, or natural gas.
Odds of VW being sold-off? People would have laughed over this idea ten years ago....I'd say presently (within the next 2 years)....I'd give it a 25-percent chance of 'someone' (probably a Chinese company) buying them (to include Audi).
2. Two Bulgarians arrested in Munich area....state-police of Germany involved. Accused of arson attack on construction site....was to be for arms industry company. Lot of questions coming out of this.
3. German authorities 'hinting' that they may provide targeting 'advice' to Ukrainians....on where to hit Russia.
On my digging deeper into a conflict index (1-to-10).....this is a '8'.
4. Curious saga coming up in Koln. There's a something called the Coesfelder Liste (Coesfeld List). It was started back in 2024....being a list of people legally required to leave Germany.
So, the way this started....late November 2024, the Zentrale Ausländerbehörde (the authority over foreigners) in the city of Coesfeld....sent out a list to cities of the state (NRW).
Roughly 1,200 folks....they were vollziehbar ausreisepflichtig (meaning they were subject to enforceable deportation). Various countries from the Balkan states and Albania/North Macedonia.
The state office offered to obtain replacement travel documents so the people could be deported more easily.
The Koln office....didn't accept the offer....they more or less....lingered.
So....about a month ago...this list became public knowledge....with a Koln group (police say this part)....of 152 of the 471 people mentioned....linked to 568 offenses since November 2024.
Koln just innocently looking the 'other-way'? Well....locals seem to have the view....someone either got blackmailed, influenced or bribed.
Forced prosecution efforts now? Just from the talk....I'd say for remainder of 2026, and most of 2027....there's some intense legal stuff to occur.
My humble view? If you dug into all sixteen states....you'd probably view several more lists.
4. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election poll? Election in roughly 2 weeks.
AfD at 35-percent, with SPD closely at 32-percent.
CDU at 8-percent, Greens at 5-percent, and Linke at 11-percent.
While AfD likely wins....they will be unable to form a coalition. SPD? Presently....they probably can form a coalition with the Linke and Greens.
End-result....roughly one-third of Mecklenburg public rates the migration woes as a big deal, and there's not likely to be much 'resolving' over the next five years. I'd say in 2031...AfD will probably have 40-to-45 percent on polls.
5. 4 August drone attempted attack at Leipzig Airport on a couple of planes? Well....authorities have been busy.
Intended target was a AN-124 cargo plane.
Around 7:30 that evening (still sunlight)....police say drone was sent to strike a wing near the fuel tanks....oddly....the charge separated on impact and did NOT detonate. Some time passed....a bus driver later found the device on the ground, and 'stomped' upon it.
DNA from the drones? Well....fantastic amount of work....led to two suspects:
First guy....a Russian-born man holding a Latvian passport. He's connected in some way to Russian intelligence. He entered Germany in late July via Berlin Brandenburg Airport...rented a car, and simply drove over to Leipzig. He stayed around for a day or two....then left Germany.
Second guy.....A Belarusian citizen who also holds a Russian passport. He had arrest records in Lithuania and Finland. He entered the Schengen region on an Italian tourist visa issued in Minsk in late April. He also has departed the country.
On the attempt? I don't think either guy has much background on drones....seems like they easily bungled this up, and the airport being extremely lucky.
Problem now? Well....Germans now realize how easy this drone-warfare might go, and there's serious worries ahead.
