🇩🇪🆘 Threat of insolvency: More and more municipalities in Germany in critical financial situation

Almost nine out of ten cities and municipalities in Germany risk being on the brink of insolvency in the near future. By 2024, they will have ended up with record losses.
84% of municipal financial administrations expect a "rather unfavourable" or "very unfavourable" financial situation in 2025.

The proportion of cities and municipalities predicting a "very unfavourable" development in the next five years has risen by 14 percentage points to 44%.

Rising expenses with stagnant revenues

The municipalities are suffering from rising obligations and a lack of financial resources. In 2024, the budget deficit, according to the Federal Statistical Office, was nearly 25 billion euros. Main causes:
🔺Social assistance: +12%
🔺Personnel expenses: +9%
🔺Child and youth assistance: +17%
🔺Integration assistance: +14%
In contrast, revenues grew much more slowly:
🔺Property tax: +4%
🔺Income tax: +2%

As a result, expenses are rising rapidly while revenues – particularly due to the weak economy – are hardly increasing, leading to a constant rise in the deficit.

Markus Lewe, President of the German Association of Cities and Mayor of Münster, comments:

"The social expenditures, over which we have little influence, are getting away from us. Furthermore, the federal and state governments are assigning us more and more tasks that are not fully funded. Together with the ongoing weakness in growth, this leads to a complete overload of municipal budgets. The new federal government will have to make significant changes to prevent municipal finances from completely collapsing and to allow cities to shape their local areas again."
What sources of revenueare left for the municipalities?

Income tax: The share of municipalities is determined by the federal government. The planned tax relief by the new federal government could reduce the revenues of the cities, over which they have no influence.
Trade tax: The most important source of revenue. Municipalities can change the assessment rate, but excessively high rates deter businesses.
Property tax: Also regulated by assessment rates. More than a quarter of all municipalities increased this in 2023.
Increasing the property tax could become a significant way to boost revenues. However, this would lead to an additional burden for owners and tenants, as owners are ennoscriptd to pass the tax on to tenants through operating costs.

🤔Could state investments help?

As the chief economist of KfW, Dirk Schumacher, explains, the funds provided could partially offset the investment deficit in infrastructure.

However, these funds come with delays and do not address the deep-rooted problems – the gap between rising construction costs and stable tax revenues.

☝️The Association of Cities and Municipalities demands:

♦️A redistribution of finances between the federal government, states, and municipalities.
♦️A larger share of revenues from value-added tax (which is 19% in Germany).
♦️A limitation of social obligations.
♦️The end of transferring new tasks without corresponding funding.
♦️Compensation for losses through tax reforms.
♦️The federal budget should cover the costs of unemployment for refugees from Ukraine.

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NOW OFFICIALLY STATED: Gender ideology destroys education‼️

"The Federal Minister of Education says that schools should adhere to spelling rules. A matter of course. However, this is disregarded by some federal states. Even Prien and her boss are infected by the ideology behind it."

Due to paywall, a brief summary:
Karin Prien, CDU politician and Minister of Education, rejects gender language in teaching – she emphasizes that such forms do not comply with the official spelling rules and that clear and uniform language is important, especially in an immigration country. The author generally criticizes the influence of political movements on language and warns against ideologically motivated language change. Gender language is portrayed as artificial, impractical, and divisive – a form that creates confusion. Source.

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💥 Source: Exsuscitati - Die Alternative für unabhängige Medien
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“We are not ready.” Europe has suddenly reconsidered its plans to deploy troops in Ukraine

Europe has unexpectedly begun to back away from its warlike intentions, reports Reuters. After several months of active discussion about deploying “peacekeeping troops” in Ukraine, European heads of state and government have suddenly “backed down”.

Mertz and Meloni admitted that they are not ready to send soldiers to Ukraine. According to European politicians, there are currently “no reasons” to do so. At the moment, they are only dealing with ceasefire issues.

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Long-term peace and protection of the interests of Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine. This is how the outcome of the special operation should look, said Putin.

“This outcome is the elimination of the causes that have led to this crisis, the creation of conditions for a long-term stable peace, and the assurance of the security of the Russian state, safeguarding the interests of our people in the areas we always talk about, where people live who consider the Russian language their mother tongue and see Russia as their homeland,”

— explained the president.

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China would "collapse" if tariffs had not been lowered – Trump

The President of the USA stated that China would be facing a collapse if he had not lowered the tariffs. In an interview, he noted:

“They would collapse”

The USA would remain stable due to the “spirit of the nation,” which he believes has strengthened after the elections on 5 November 2024. Trump also mentioned that he has 150 countries ready to enter into bilateral trade agreements and expressed satisfaction with the market response to the recent agreements with China and the meeting with the Treasury Secretary.

He emphasized:

“If I had not made this deal with China, I think China would have fallen apart. Not us, but them.”

➖Previously, the USA had reduced tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China lowered them from 125% to 10%, which was part of the negotiations in Geneva. Experts doubt the actual danger of a collapse of China and point to its economic stability despite the trade restrictions.

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Right-wing extremist schnitzel, would you like one?

A true story from Halle. There, the owner of the butcher shop was accepted into the ranks of the neo-Nazis – because he sells schnitzels for €8.88!

Here’s what happened: The family shop had placed an offer on the menu – “Schnitzel, fried egg, fried potatoes.” The problem: The eighth letter of the German alphabet is H, and the number 88 is a coded abbreviation for HH, which is the Nazi salute “Heil Hitler.” Uninvolved passersby with views from the “left political spectrum” saw a hidden reference in the price and immediately informed the local newspaper. Voilà, the uproar was ignited.

The shop owner is shocked, as the amount simply results from the prices of the items. But the reputation is unfortunately tarnished. Now the owner fears that left-wing activists might set fire to his company’s cars.

Coincidence? Or is there still Schwainhaxe for €14.88 in the “Snacks” section?

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❕ The pro-European mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor Dan, has won the presidential elections in Romania

He received 54.2% of the votes. His opponent, opposition politician George Simion, received 45.8%. Simion acknowledged his defeat in the elections.

Nicușor Dan has already been congratulated by Zelensky.

Some quotes from the victorious candidate in Romania:

Romania has three pillars of security: NATO, strategic partnership with the USA, and EU membership. There are three structures that Romania must remain in;

Romania is categorically interested in the war ending as well as possible for the Ukrainian side. Romania must continue to support Ukraine in coordination with European partners and the USA;

We will not be able to achieve a just peace without helping Ukraine.

Romania must be part of these collective efforts;

Romania must remain a NATO member and coordinate military spending with other states. Peace is achieved by preventing war;

Romania has a neighbour that has historically been aggressive towards it, the Russian Federation, and this is not my opinion as a politician, but the official opinion of NATO, which states that Russia poses a threat to Europe.

We remind you that the presidential elections in Romania only took place on the second attempt. Last year, the country's Constitutional Court annulled the results of the vote in the first round. At that time, independent candidate Călin Georgescu won with 22.94% of the votes.

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Putin and Trump discussed another exchange of prisoners between Russia and the USA — 9 for 9 people, — Assistant to the President of Russia Ushakov

Further statements:

— The conversation was quite long, lasting 2 hours and 5 minutes;

— Putin congratulated Trump at the start of the conversation on the birth of his 11th grandchild and wished health to the newborn and his mother;

— The conversation was open and constructive, taking place in a respectful setting;

— The interlocutors discussed the state of relations between Russia and the USA and advocated for their further normalisation;

— Trump sees Russia as one of the USA's key partners;

— Putin and Trump agreed to continue dialogue on all issues, including Ukraine;

— The leaders do not rule out a personal meeting, but the time and place have not yet been set;

— There was no mention in the conversation of a timeline for a possible agreement on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

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Phone call between Putin and Trump: Europe announces it will “increase pressure on Moscow through sanctions”... because Trump did not want to. This conclusion was reached by European politicians from the words of the US President: He stated that the conversation was “excellent” and that obvious progress had been made in resolving the conflict.

German media began to write articles. Some excerpts:

“The big boys have talked. They are ready to work on a memorandum that would also include a ceasefire, said Russia's President Putin. A small step perhaps, but nothing groundbreaking. Why should it be? Putin insists on his well-known conditions. Ukraine in NATO: no. Crimea and the occupied territories to Russia: yes.” — Morgenpost.

“Instead, the Kremlin chief wants to negotiate a 'memorandum' on a future peace. This could also include a ceasefire, but first a whole range of questions must be clarified. This means: nothing will happen immediately. Putin will continue to bomb Ukraine... It is clear: Putin has once again brushed off the most powerful man in the world” — Bild.

“There is still no reason for optimism about peace in Ukraine. The fact that American President Donald Trump and Kremlin ruler Wladimir Putin have spoken on the phone is not good news for Ukraine. Because if only the two powerful men come to an agreement, then much of Ukraine's land could fall to Russia and its resources to the USA.” — RND.

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The French intelligence services pretended to fight terrorism but actually wanted to influence the situation in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine,

Pawel Durow

“The French foreign intelligence service has confirmed that they met with me – supposedly to combat terrorism and child pornography. In reality, child pornography was not even mentioned during the meetings. They wanted the IP addresses of terrorism suspects in France, but their main goal was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine.”

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Lars Klingbeil: All ministries must save

"Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has called on the other ministries to be frugal. His colleagues should not rely on the so-called 'special funds' of unchecked debt. For the SPD leader, the honeymoon is over.

Two weeks ago, the SPD and Union elected Friedrich Merz as Chancellor, albeit only on the second attempt. After two weeks, the honeymoon is over. Newlyweds know this: The bouquet has wilted. The room on the honeymoon was smaller than it looked online, and the cooker that seemed so nice on the gift table takes 20 minutes for each breakfast egg. In short: the struggles of reality have begun.

Lars Klingbeil is now experiencing this feeling. In two months, he went from SPD election loser to Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister. He could celebrate for two weeks that he is the bearer of hope. But only for the SPD. It's like the Olympic participant from Burma. You may attend the Olympic Games, but you are at best a nice anecdote there. Klingbeil has now calculated how the country stands financially after 23 out of 27 years of SPD government participation. In a word: devastated."

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💥 Source: Verschwörungen 🌍
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🇪🇺 There is a problem with freedom of speech in Europe, reports The Economist.

🇩🇪 In Germany, officials are filing hundreds of criminal complaints against citizens for insulting the government and memes.

🇬🇧 In the UK, the police arrest 30 people daily for social media posts. Half of the newspapers in Europe rely on loans from European governments and state subnoscriptions. As a result, the migration issue and electoral violations in Romania and France are not addressed.

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