Sunday, August 9, 2026

9 August 2026: Germany: 4 Stories

 1.  Bahn (railway) 'bosses' shocked....Minister of Transportation for Germany....wants to link salaries/bonuses to being on schedule (on-time).

If you use the current 'number'.....it's around 60-percent of trains on-schedule.  

Forcing them to run....even under marginal safety conditions?  I'd suggest this as the outcome, and it'd quickly fall apart.

2.  Relaxation of the Sunday truck ban....getting a lot of attention.  The rule for a number of years....from Saturday evening to Sunday evening....trucks were sent to parking lots and not allowed on German autobahns.  So the drought has affected water-traffic to such a degree...that trucks will have to run on Sundays.

My advice....once this starts up....on a Sunday....you really don't want to travel on autobahns much (stau-woes).

3.  New ARD (pubic TV) polling.

AfD at 28 percent.....CDU at 21 percent.

Green Party at 15 percent, with the SPD around 12 percent.  FDP at 4 percent.  Linke Party at 11 percent.  Remainder spread out among lesser parties.

Gain?  One point for AfD.  

Two observations.....first, ARD is usually highly accurate (not faked-up).  Second, the CDU-CSU lost a point.  If you ever see the CDU-CSU drop down to around 19-percent....there will be intense pressure for Merz to step down/leave.

4.  The German Constitutional Court is giving a strong hint....upon conclusion of any election...if there is a suggestion of bogus-results/crappy control....the Bundestag needs a 'tool' to quickly assemble the data....recognize the problem, and come to a conclusion. 

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