Transcription
In Germany, a project for a large-scale modernization of the social state was presented, prepared by a government commission on the initiative of Labor Minister Hubertus Heil. A revolutionary reform of social welfare. The commission was created in August 2025 and united representatives from nine ministries: the Chancellery, federal states, municipalities, as well as deputies from the CDU, CSU, and SPD. After 4 months, it prepared a fifty-page document with dozens of measures for digitalization, standardization, and simplification of the social support system. The key proposal is to reduce the number of departments responsible for payments. For able-bodied citizens, responsibility will shift to the DBNER employment centers. For others, to municipal social services. Instead of four instances, there will be two. It is also planned to create a single first point of contact, where a person can receive consultation and apply for all types of assistance. Excuse me. Hello, friends. In the program "Germany Today," we will discuss events of the last few days. I await your comments. Oleg Sergeev is in the studio. Don't forget likes, subscribing to the channel, and, if possible, the simplest donation. Click the "Become a Sponsor" button below this video and help us create more new episodes. This is important for the operation of any channel and truly helps us create new programs. This is how everyone works. I will continue. A separate block is dedicated to protecting the income of benefit recipients. The authorities promise that families with children and pensioners should not lose money. The commission proposes to change the rules under which increased employment today often does not bring benefits due to the loss of part of the payments. State aid is to be gradually reduced so that a full working day truly means a significantly larger income. Another direction is the fight against bureaucracy. It is planned to unify the concept of income for different benefits, use fixed payments more often, and reduce the volume of checks and certificates. Child benefits are proposed to be calculated automatically after the birth of a child, and the system of parental benefits is to be simplified by reducing fragmentation among hundreds of departments. Digitalization is described separately, with the creation of a unified online portal for social services and the expansion of automation in departments, including the use of artificial intelligence. For people without access to digital services, offline support is promised to be maintained. The German government is considering the possibility of using money from so-called dormant accounts to finance a social innovation fund. The government will take money from personal accounts. This refers to bank accounts on which no transactions have occurred for a long time and there is no contact with the owner or heirs. According to various estimates, there is between 2 and 9 billion euros in such accounts in Germany. An expert report prepared for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research mentions an amount of up to 4.2 billion euros. The government's coalition agreement states that these funds are planned to be directed to a special fund for supporting social innovations. At the same time, Germany still lacks a clear legal definition of a dormant account and a separate law regulating the handling of such money, unlike in several other EU countries. The banking association sharply criticizes the initiative. Its chief lawyer, Thorsten H., stated that it is unclear after what period the state will be able to access the funds and that there are currently no legal grounds for this. Furthermore, according to him, the project may violate the property rights of bank clients or their heirs, even if the account holder is not yet deceased. Currently, the procedure is different. First, banks are obliged to search for heirs. If there are none, the funds may go to the state, but the right of claim is preserved for up to 30 years. According to Finanz, banks can also write off such amounts and pay tax on them as profit. However, upon the appearance of the owner, they are obliged to return the money. It is not yet known whether these guarantees will be preserved under the new order. Heirs suspecting the existence of forgotten accounts can contact the German Banking Association, which offers a free search service if there are grounds. In several cities in the Ruhr region, measures against so-called social migration from EU countries have begun to be tightened in 2025. According to the broadcaster WDR, dependents are being expelled from Germany. According to the broadcaster, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, and Hagen have deprived 1,181 citizens of Romania and Bulgaria of social benefits and ordered them to leave Germany. The authorities of Duisburg made the most such decisions, 556. This is followed by Gelsenkirchen with 506, Dortmund with 116, and Hagen with three cases. The basis for this was EU rules on the freedom of movement of workers. If an EU citizen is unable to support themselves through work, the municipality can deprive them of their worker status and, consequently, the right to social benefits. In Gelsenkirchen, a specific threshold has been set. Income below one-third of the subsistence minimum is not considered sufficient to recognize an employment relationship. Mayor of Hagen, Denis Rybain, advocates for further tightening. He points out that it is currently enough to work about 5 hours a week to be formally considered employed and eligible for benefits. Approximately 7,000 people from Romania and Bulgaria live in Hagen. More than half of them receive assistance through the employment center, which costs the city about 10 million euros per year. "We need labor migration, but targeted immigration into the social security system, which undoubtedly exists, meets with broad disapproval," Rybain stated. The Minister for Refugee Affairs of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Josaifina Paul, resigned after sharp criticism following the terrorist attack in the city of Solingen. Resignation amid a terrorist attack. According to the agency, her post is to be taken by the head of the Green Party faction in the state parliament, Verena Schäfer. The resignation is linked to accusations against Paul of a delayed and ineffective response by the authorities to the terrorist attack that occurred in August 2024. At that time, the Islamist Issa Al-Hassan attacked people during a city festival. Three people died, and eight were injured. The opposition claimed that the minister allegedly did not communicate for two days and did not even respond to a request from the state's Interior Minister for a phone conversation. It later emerged that on the very next day after the attack, she requested official information about the suspect from France, including about a possible search of a refugee dormitory. In the first days after the attack, Paul was on a business trip and only appeared publicly for the first time after 4 days. This correspondence, for reasons unknown, was not handed over to the parliamentary investigative committee, which caused a new wave of criticism. The attacker, it turns out, was previously subject to deportation, but his expulsion failed. Later, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that in the future, wind energy could be replaced by new technologies, primarily controlled thermonuclear fusion. He said this at the North Sea Summit in Hamburg. Merz's fantasies or calculations? The speech came against the backdrop of agreements between Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway to accelerate the development of wind energy. According to Merz, wind turbines will remain an important part of the energy system for another 10-20, well, possibly 30 years. However, then Germany, according to his plan, should be the first in the world to connect a fusion reactor to the grid. "Then electricity will become so cheap that other generation methods will become unnecessary," the chancellor stated. He recalled that the government has already approved multi-billion euro funding for research in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion. Critics view these statements with caution. Environmentalists and scientists point out that despite decades of development, no plant has yet achieved stable energy production with a positive balance, meaning output exceeding costs. Experts also warn that an emphasis on a hypothetical breakthrough could slow down the development of renewable energy sources and decentralized energy, which are already making a real contribution to energy supply. In the municipality of Anweiler in the state of Baden-Württemberg, a serious scandal has erupted over the purchase of alcohol at the expense of the municipal budget at the end of 2024. Whiskey ordered at the expense of the budget. As it turned out, the authorities once purchased 50 bottles of premium whiskey for almost 1,940 euros. This refers to the Bauhofer Schwarzwald Mari brand, costing about 80 euros per bottle. Deputies only now noticed the unusual expense item. However, it has not yet been possible to determine where the alcohol is. The opposition demanded an explanation from Mayor Viktor Lorenz. CDU deputy Klaus Sauer directly asked at a municipal council meeting: "To whom were the bottles given? and where is the rest stored?" According to Offenburger, the mayor replied that part of the whiskey had been gifted and the remaining bottles were in storage. However, he refused to disclose the storage location. They have to do it themselves. In a written statement, Lorenz stated that he cannot name the recipients of the gifts due to personal data protection reasons and called the accusations of alcohol disappearance unconfirmed. He only clarified that three of his deputies and one deputy received several bottles. The Bavarian authorities have announced a large-scale program to reduce bureaucracy and abolish hundreds of administrative regulations by the end of the year. Söder fights bureaucracy. After a cabinet meeting in Munich, Head of the State Chancellery Florian Herrmann announced that the number of active administrative regulations is planned to be reduced to 2,366. Previously, there were 3,386, with about 15% already abolished by the end of 2024. In total, this means eliminating approximately 30% of all such norms. The reform received an additional impetus from Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder. At a CSU faction meeting, he demanded a further 15% reduction in regulations, calling it a serious intervention in the work of the apparatus. According to Herrmann, many regulations are excessively detailed and limit decision-making freedom at the local level. "Often, everything is excessively regulated and defined, which constrains those responsible for practical work," he explained. This refers to ministerial bylaws addressed to departments and officials. They do not directly affect citizens but significantly impact the speed and complexity of administrative procedures. To prevent a new increase in bureaucracy, Bavaria has introduced a moratorium on the adoption of such rules. A discussion about a possible ban on wearing burqas and niqabs has erupted in Germany until the end of 2026. The women's union of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany has come forward with such an initiative. Burqas may be banned. The organization states that the niqab is a symbol of unfreedom and is often worn under pressure from family or environment. In their opinion, a complete ban would send a clear signal against coercion and in support of women's rights. The issue of integration is also emphasized. The CDU believes that a covered face hinders social interaction and participation in public life. Another argument is security. Police and emergency services must be able to identify a person, whether a suspect or a victim. Similar restrictions are already in place in several European countries, including France, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Bulgaria, as well as partially in the Netherlands and Norway. Fines for violations usually amount to about 150 euros. In Bulgaria, incidentally, up to 750 euros. In Belgium, wearing clothing that covers the face can in some cases lead to short-term arrest for up to 7 days. In Germany, the results of a study by the Next Generation Foundation of the Alliance Foundation on the views of young people aged 16 to 39 on the future of the country and public values have been published. Youth misses the past. About two-thirds of respondents believe that Germany's prosperity should be measured not only by economic growth and income but also by climate protection, access to education, and the level of political participation of citizens. At the same time, almost every third person, 28%, stated that they miss the past times, which are associated with less immigration and more traditional gender roles. Such answers were particularly frequent among millennials aged 30 to 39. In this group, national pride and a less critical attitude towards the country's history are also noticeably higher. About 40% of young people believe that their opinions are ignored by politicians, and almost 60% speak of a deep division within their generation. Against this backdrop, radicalization is growing. 10% of respondents support harsh forms of protest, sharp statements on the internet, and even the possibility of violent actions against individual politicians. Another 11% partially agree with them. At the same time, the majority of young people remain socially active. 97% participate in public life individually through elections, consumer behavior, or donations, and 43% collectively, for example, in demonstrations. Political self-identification is distributed relatively evenly. 13% identify as left-wing, 17% as centrist, and 13% as right-wing. The study was conducted in 2025 in five EU countries. In Germany, the age group surveyed numbered about 23 million people. That's all for the events of these days. I await your comments. I would be grateful for a like, subscription, and sponsorship. Journalist and blogger Oleg Sergeev was with you. Hope to see you tomorrow.