1. The U-turn
When the last SPD chancellor before Olaf Scholz, Gerhard Schröder, was dubbed the comrade of the bosses, the car bosses were meant above all.
Schröder not only maintained a special closeness to Volkswagen because he is from Lower Saxony.
He also ensnared the other German manufacturers – and they him.
The automotive industry has always been an important pillar of the German economy.
And Schröder's preference for the industry was certainly also related to the fact that she embodied masculinity and potency for decades, attributes that Schröder particularly appreciated.
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Scholz on a visit to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: Unwilling or unable?
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance / dpa
With him there was no need for a car summit in the Chancellery, he was in constant contact with his intimate friends from VW to BMW anyway.
Schröder's successor, Angela Merkel, then called the first car summits into being, often as crisis summits.
For too long, the branch of industry had overlooked the fact that mobility was changing.
That the internal combustion engine, into which all engineering art has flowed for decades, will be phased out in the long term.
That the industry would have been well advised to be the market leader in a traffic turnaround made up of electric vehicles, sharing offers and public transport, instead of laughing at new competitors like Tesla.
That the younger generation in particular is opposed to the car as a status symbol.
What about the increasingly bulky all-terrain tanks called SUVs, which often cost between 80,000 and 100,000 euros,
When things got tight for the industry, she begged the state for subsidies.
Sometimes they were called scrapping premiums, sometimes purchase premiums for electric cars.
She benefited like no other from short-time work benefits and even wanted to push through bonuses for the purchase of cars with combustion engines in the Corona stimulus package.
Today Chancellor Scholz invited to a car summit for the first time, which he disguised as a mobility summit.
Of the around 40 participants, seven companies from the vehicle construction sector were each represented by bosses and chairmen of the works council, flanked by ADAC, the German Association of the Automotive Industry, and representatives from neighboring industrial sectors.
Like alibi figures, writes my colleague Arvid Haitsch, Verena Bentele from the social association VdK as a representative of the Alliance for Socially Responsible Mobility and Christian Hochfeld,
Director of the Agora Verkehrswende think tank.
Dirk Flege, Managing Director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, an alliance of the rail industry and several associations and bicycle associations, were not invited.
"Olaf Scholz is preparing to become the most smug auto chancellor," Flege criticized.
And Berlin's Green Senator for the Environment, Bettina Jarasch, seconded: The Chancellery is "unwilling or unable to tackle future mobility issues."
If Schröder was the comrade of the bosses, Scholz could go down in history as a comrade of the bullets given the ever-increasing dimensions of cars.
In any case, the traffic light is about as successful in achieving the goal of being a climate government as Schröder was in his efforts to dissuade Putin from the war in Ukraine.
Read more here: That's what the car summit in the Chancellery is all about
2. Who makes profits - and if so, how many?
It was a long struggle before the so-called excess profit tax was passed last year.
She wasn't allowed to be called that, since the FDP initially categorically rejected her.
So the instrument was dubbed the "tax on random profits".
This is the additional income that electricity companies in particular are currently making because electricity prices are linked to gas prices, which have risen massively as a result of the extensive phase-out of Russian imports.
These companies will have to pay 33 percent tax for December 2022 and until April 2024 on profits that increased by 20 percent compared to previous years' average profit.
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Power poles and wind turbines around the Niederaussem coal-fired power plant of the RWE power group: profit increases of 40 percent in some cases
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / IMAGO
My colleague David Böcking reports that it is still unclear how high the expected income from skimming off excess profits will be for electricity producers.
“The federal government has not yet received any estimates of the excess revenue in December 2022,” is the response from Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs to a small inquiry from the left in the Bundestag.
This is of course somewhat unfortunate if the revenue from this excess profit tax is actually intended to finance the electricity price brake decided in December.
It is intended to cap the electricity price for consumers this year for 80 percent of the previous year's consumption at 40 cents per kilowatt hour.
Contrary to previous plans, the revenue limit for electricity producers does not apply retrospectively from September or even March, but only from December 2022. Against this background, left-wing politician Görke calls the missing information on the excess revenue »highly explosive«.
The power companies "just got away with the fat profits of the last few months - and the federal government doesn't even know how much that is!"
Recently, a study by the ifo Institute revealed that companies in certain sectors of the economy - primarily the energy sector - have used the price increases to significantly increase their profits, some by 40 percent.
Read the full story here: Government wants to siphon off excess profits from electricity companies - but doesn't yet know how much
3. Courage to blood
For years it has been one of the most difficult issues in the health sector - homosexual men are only allowed to donate blood under certain conditions.
Until October 2017, gay men were even generally excluded from donating blood.
After that, the regulation applied that homosexual men were not allowed to have had any same-sex intercourse for at least 12 months in order to be allowed to donate blood.
In 2021, it was realized that this could also be quite discriminatory and it was agreed that risky behavior when donating blood should at least be classified as gender-neutral.
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Blood donation in Dresden: »Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of risky behavior, not of sexual orientation«
Photo: Arno Burgi/ dpa
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach now wants to end discrimination against homosexual men when donating blood in general - and thus implement a project from the coalition agreement of the traffic light government.
Because despite the gender-neutral designation, it was almost always gay men who were refused blood donations.
With Lauterbach's planned change in the law, the German Medical Association will be obliged to adapt its blood donation guidelines within four months and to allow homosexual men as blood donors, the minister announced in the editorial network Germany.
"Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of risky behavior, not of sexual orientation," Lauterbach said.
So far, questions like these often have to be answered before blood can be donated: Have you had sexual intercourse in the last 4 months?
with a total of more than two people?
as a man with a new male partner or with more than one male partner?
for which you received or paid money or other benefits (accommodation, drugs)?
with a person exhibiting any of the above behaviors?
with a person infected with HIV or hepatitis viruses?
with a person who was born abroad or has lived there for more than 6 months?
Have you taken any drug for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the last 4 months?
"Hidden discrimination" should no longer exist on this subject, said Lauterbach.
The German Medical Association must "finally understand what has long been a consensus in social life".
Homosexual men who have only been sexually active within a long-term couple relationship in the past four months were allowed to donate blood without restriction.
Everyone else doesn't.
Now the four-month rule is likely to change – and that's a good thing.
Read more here: Lauterbach wants to end discrimination against homosexual blood donors
News and background to the war in Ukraine
Race of the Bomb Makers:
They are cheap and have limited power.
Nevertheless, mini drones have become an important weapon in the Ukraine war.
Both sides are tinkering with their aircraft – but one warring faction may have an advantage .
Baerbock visits eastern Ukraine:
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has traveled to eastern Ukraine – as the first German cabinet member.
She assured the entire country of “solidarity and support”.
"There is almost no life left":
The small town of Soledar near Bakhmut has become the center of heavy Russian attacks in the Donbass.
Residents are fleeing, Ukrainian soldiers are holding their positions thanks to the snow – for now.
Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update
What else is important today
Secret documents found in Biden's former office:
Joe Biden's lawyers wanted to clear out a former office of their boss.
They came across several secret files from his time as Vice President.
Donald Trump is already using the report as a through ball.
Movement in the Emanuela Orlandi case – Vatican opens new investigation:
What happened in Rome in June 1983?
There are many rumors surrounding the case of the missing Emanuela Orlandi.
In 2015 he was filed, now the Vatican is investigating again.
Buschmann and Özdemir want to make "containers" exempt from punishment:
Anyone who collects discarded food from garbage containers should not be prosecuted - this is what the Ministers for Agriculture and Justice are demanding.
In the past, the CDU had blocked similar plans.
A person under the age of 24 dies every 4.4 seconds:
there is a lack of medical care in many regions of the world.
According to a UN report, millions of young people and children are dying from treatable diseases.
Countless lives could be saved through investments.
My favorite story today:
The Conference of Ministers of Education can be imagined as a snake pit: 16 ministers who all claim the best of all school systems.
One brags about having the smallest class size on average, the other about putting the highest investments into the system, the third about delivering the best results in performance surveys between the federal states.
What they all have in common is that they want to set themselves apart from others as much as possible, contradicting proposed solutions for a better education system as a matter of principle because they fundamentally feel that their competence has been curtailed.
The victims in the vanity cabinet are often the children and young people whose lessons are cancelled, who lack teachers and whose school buildings are falling apart.
My colleague Miriam Olbrisch conducted a refreshing interview on this subject with the leader of the Young Liberals, Franziska Brandmann.
She generally questions the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK).
"The ministers of education have to admit that they don't have any answers to central questions," says the 28-year-old in the interview.
The alarming results of several education studies are a slap in the face for everyone who has been responsible for education policy in recent years, says Brandmann.
"If they don't have any suggestions on how to reverse the trend, then what's the point of the KMK?"
Young people rightly feel that politics has forgotten them, said the July boss.
»Anyone who visits schools often sees how ramshackle and unkempt many buildings are.
If offices looked like that, a lot of adults would go on the barricades.« Unlike them, however, children could not resign.
No reasonable person understands why teaching in Saarland has to be fundamentally different from that in Saxony-Anhalt, why the level in Bavaria is different from that in Brandenburg.
It is the big taboo subject in Germany: educational federalism.
Brandmann shakes this taboo, which is all the more remarkable because the Federal Minister of Education belongs to her party and probably does not dare to address it so openly.
Read the whole interview here: »In times of massive teacher shortages, it is insane to treat people like this«
What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today
How dangerous is the cannabis high from the kiosk?
E-cigarettes with hexahydrocannabinol have been available in Spätis for some time.
The substance is similar to the active ingredient in cannabis.
Our author experienced how the substance works - and what the risks are.
What makes the fight for Lützerath so complicated:
a showdown in the major conflict over lignite in North Rhine-Westphalia: activists and police officers are arming themselves in Lützerath.
The longer the evacuation lasts, the greater the chances of success for the demonstrators.
Why?
That is why Germany's best-known environmental lawyer is suing VW:
Politicians must do more to combat climate change - Roda Verheyen won this historic judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2021.
Now she wants Volkswagen to ban the construction of combustion engines.
Title.
injuries.
world-class actions.
In this order:
he scored dream goals, angry Madrid fans, loved Wales and was injured far too often: Gareth Bale has won many titles - and also provided a few anecdotes in the constant dispute with Madrid.
Which is less important today
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Martha and Hollywood Star Kate Winslet: Greatest Interview Ever
Photo: ZDF
Rescue from the sinking:
The interjection was certainly not particularly important for world events, but it was definitely for the children's reporter Martha in the ZDF program Logo.
British actress
Kate Winslet
was very emphatic in reassuring Martha when she was about to interview the Titanic star.
It was her first interview, she began the conversation, audibly nervous.
Then the 47-year-old leaned forward and went to eye level with the girl.
With soulful words, Winslet then tried to encourage Martha.
»This interview will be the greatest interview ever.
And do you know why?
Because we just decided it's going to be like this," the actress said.
“You can ask me anything you want.
You don't have to be afraid."
Mini concave mirror
Here you can find the whole concave mirror.
cartoon of the day
And tonight?
Could you buy the new "Dein SPIEGEL" that has been on sale since today and bring it to your children if you have any.
The cover story is about fake news, conspiracy myths and advertising lies - the internet is full of them.
Enlarge image
Photo: Your MIRROR
All of this is read, believed, shared.
With one click, content that is dubious or even dangerous ends up in the WhatsApp chat or in the direct message on Instagram.
Who is spreading the lies on the internet?
And why?
How do you recognize them?
The children's news magazine "Dein SPIEGEL" explains what you need to know about such deceptions and how to fall for them less easily.
There are also other exciting articles in the magazine, for example a portrait by Antonia Bauer about Teresa Liening, she is a model builder in the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg.
And editor Claudia Beckschebe was able to watch together with photographer Maria Feck how a large research ship is being repaired in the port.
If you don't have children, you can of course still read the magazine, I've been told
that it also has many fans among adults.
You can also order the magazine digitally here.
Have fun, I wish you a nice evening.
Cordially
yours, Janko Tietz
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