Florists in Achim Germany

She Believes Trees Will Save Germany — If She Can Save the Trees - OZY

Rhineland-Palatinate. Articles touted her as a potential successor to Merkel. And then she lost. she has the difficult job of juggling these different interests and keeping everybody happy.Joachim Curtius, professor of geosciences at Goethe University Klöckner’s more conservative than Merkel in some ways, a trait that hasn’t always served her well electorally. Her opposition to Merkel’s open-door asylum policy is widely blamed as a factor in her losing her 2016 race, and as recently as this year, she called for a burqa ban in Germany. Still, while the ultraconservative AfD party has wholeheartedly embraced climate change denial, Klöckner — as minister of food and agriculture — doesn’t have the luxury of ignoring scientific evidence. “The climate change has hit us much faster than expected,” she said at a forest summit last month, and while the scientific community might argue that it was definitely expected, she’s now gearing up for battle against the conditions that are destroying the forests. “Climate change isn’t German; it isn’t going to be solved in Germany. None of the existing policies around the world are up to the scale of the challenge,” says Britta Frischemeyer, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, when asked about Klöckner’s plans. “The [forestry sector] is the only sector providing opportunities for carbon sinks, and both provide bioenergy and wood for other sectors like energy, traffic or buildings.” Germany does have a plan to save its forests, even if critics see it as still too vague. “She is of course in a difficult position, because the farmers and the forestry people — their standard procedure is to ask for more money,” says Joachim Curtius, professor of geosciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt. “The agricultural lobby in Germany is very strong. And she has the difficult job of juggling these different interests and keeping everybody happy.” But after the last two years of extreme weather, there’s an unprecedented debate about climate change in Germany, and political parties are under pressure to change things to become more environmentally sustainable. They haven’t always made good: A recent climate package announced a carbon tax, but one so low that environmentalists dismissed it as barely useful. Here’s what Klöckner wants: $886 million to reforest Germany. Climate change has so far affected nearly 2 percent of the country’s forests, according to fo...https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/she-believes-trees-will-save-germany-if-she-can-save-the-trees/221908/

Flowers instead of stones: cities want to prescribe planting of gardens - The Crypto Coin Discovery

It is the desire, the creeping advance tax relief concussion of the front gardens, it has a bar and there is a planting to ensure,” said Bremen’s environment Senator Joachim Lohse (Green). Especially going to be the improvement of the small-scale city environments in the light of future summer Heat waves, and heavy rain events. The new law does not apply to Bremerhaven, was founded on the Initiative of the Greens. A list of insect-friendly plants is to be given to the property owners. Existing gardens and building permits are not affected by the new regulation, which will enter into force in may,. “There is no interference in the vested rights of people,” stresses Lohse. “Life Hacks” how to use lemons as flower pots Also, the Federal Association of garden, landscape and sports ground construction (GaLaBau) deplores the Trend to lifeless grey gardens. “Many believe, unfortunately, they are easier to care for than planted surfaces,” says spokesman Andreas Stump. Added to this is the offer of Packed pebbles or gravel in a handy size in hardware stores. The Association argues, however, for recommendations and advice, instead of Forbidden, and has started an Initiative under the Motto “Save the garden”. Few cities have a rock garden ban The nature and biodiversity conservation Union (Nabu), however, the municipalities stronger. Some cities are already very active, says Nabu-garden expert Marja Rottleb. So there is in Heilbronn, a stone and gravel areas, garden, ban on new construction. In many places, is discussed in the municipal parliaments violently, and how far authorities intervene in the privacy and citizens have the right to require the garden design. “Life Hacks” The Do-it-yourself watering can The stones were mostly not from the local quarry, but in all likelihood mainly from China or India, criticized the Nabu. Andreas my mountain, the owner of the operation, stone lattice wall in Storkow, near Berlin, stressed that his stones came from Germany and Europe. He is calling for more Composure in the discussion. His older customers, it is going to be less work on the property. “You no longer have to paint the fence or the hedge cutting.” Green politicians Lohse emphasized, a garden with native plants is automatically maintenance-intensive or more expensive. Rather, the quality of life, increases the Senat...https://www.ccdiscovery.com/flowers-instead-of-stones-cities-want-to-prescribe-planting-of-gardens

Dortmund crush Hannover 5-1 in German Bundesliga - Xinhua | English.news.cn - Xinhua

Video PlayerClose Mario Goetze (Front) of Dortmund competes during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96 in Dortmund, Germany, Jan. 26, 2019. Dortmund won 5-1. (Xinhua/Joachim Bywaletz) BERLIN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Front runners Borussia Dortmund still topped the standings after hammering struggling Hannover 5-1 on home soil in the 19th round of Bundesliga on Saturday. Hannover started highly motivated to stand up against the "BVB" and Miiko Albornoz's delivery into the box allowed Hendrik Weydandt to test Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki with only two minutes played. Soon the hosts gained a foothold and adjusted their strategy to overcome Hannover's well-positioned defense. It took 24 minutes for Dortmund to break the deadlock as Raphael Guerreiro exchanged a one-two with Achraf Hakimi, who slotted home from 16 meters. Despite the setback, Hannover were still offensively minded and gave the hosts a hard time. Hence, Lucien Favre's men had to take a narrow 1-0 lead into the half-time. After the restart, Hannover were able to hold the pace until the 60th minute when the hosts doubled their lead through Marco Reus who made no mistake from very close range. Hanno...http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/27/c_137777320.htm

'Little Britain' in Germany's Rhine region lives on borrowed time - DW (English)

Britain' In the meantime, the Blackburn family has managed to get the deadline to shutter Little Britain postponed until mid-September. The next step is a meeting that the district administrator, Achim Hallerbach, set up to bring together Blackburn and the mayor. "The tank, using the property from the municipality, the row with the neighbors, misinformation, custodianship so much has come together," says Hallerbach. Blackburn and the mayor need to sit down and talk, he stresses. Little Britain...https://www.dw.com/en/little-britain-in-germanys-rhine-region-lives-on-borrowed-time/a-44907634

Green party politician remains most popular head of federal state in Germany: poll - Xinhua | English.news.cn - Xinhua

With an approval rate of 66 percent, Daniel Guenther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, was the second most popular head of a federal state in Germany, followed by Stephan Weil of Lower Saxony who was ranked third with 60 percent. At the bottom of the ranking was Berlin's governing mayor, Michael Mueller (SPD), whose work was only rated positively by 27 percent of people living in the German capital's federal state. Following a big win in the European Parliament elections in May, where the Green party in Germany won 20.5 percent of votes and became second strongest political force, support for the Green party in Germany is at a historic high. According to last week's Trendbarometer, the Greens would gain the same number of votes as the governing conservative union CDU/CSU if elections were to be held. With regards to a first Green German chancellor, Winfried Kretschmann recently told the Funke Media Group that a German government led by the Greens would not involve a radical change of policy. "Nobody needs to be afraid of a Green Chancellor. We are not trumps or Erdogans or Orbans who throw everything overboard," Kretschmann told the German newspapers. The head of Baden-Wuerttemberg noted that he did not see "big differences" in alliances with the CDU/CSU and the SPD. "In socio-political issues, we make progress with the social democrats, in economic policy with the CDU/CSU". http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/16/c_138229413.htm

Berlin moves to greatly reduce ‘solidarity tax’ for eastern Germany - Euronews

The bill, proposed by the finance minister from Angela Merkel’s CDU party, has been encouraged with support from the CDU’s coalition partner the SPD.The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, said: "It is absolutely time to noticeably reduce the burden on small and medium incomes by abolishing the solidarity surcharge."Weil also thinks it's good that 10% of Germans should continue to pay the solidarity surcharge. "Nobody would understand, however, if the highest incomes in Germany were now to be rewarded with tax gifts totalling around eleven billion euros. We'd better invest this money in education and climate protection."Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, parliamentary party and state leader of the SPD in Hesse, also supports Scholz.What is the Soli tax?The solidarity surcharge was introduced in 1991, to help reconstruction of the east following the reunification of Germany in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall.The tax was originally supposed to be in place only for a limited time but became permanent in 1995.Initially, the solidarity rate was 7.5%, but since 1995 it has been 5.5%. In addition, the surcharge has been unlimited since 1995.Contrary to some assumptions, taxpayers in the west and east have to pay the tax.According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2018 the German state received €18.9 billion as a result.Criticism of the billAccording to the Ministry of Finance, single people with an annual gross income of up to €73,874 would not have to pay anything. From €109,451 gross annual wages, the full supplement would have to be paid.Accordingly, a family with two children and an annual income of €221,375 or more...https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/13/berlin-moves-to-greatly-reduce-solidarity-tax-for-eastern-germany

The German European: how Ursula von der Leyen rose to become EU president - New Statesman

Chancellor Angela Merkel, for one, is a fan. Merkel brought von der Leyen into her first cabinet in 2005, just two years after the latter became a minister in the state of Lower Saxony. In fact, for a while Merkel appeared to be grooming von der Leyen as her successor. (Merkel’s actual chosen successor and CDU party leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will take over at the defence ministry.) But von der Leyen never truly had enough allies in her own party to succeed Merkel in the Chancellery, perhaps because she was always something of an outsider, personally and ideologically. She joined the CDU at the relatively late age of 32 and spent years working as a doctor and taking care of her family before her rapid rise as a member of Merkel’s team. That’s not to say von der Leyen is especially popular with Germany’s other major parties. All of the Social Democratic MEPs broke with their European colleagues to reject von der Leyen in the confirmation vote. The German SPD even distributed a letter in Brussels stating that she was an “inadequate and inappropriate candidate”. The Greens in Europe — the party is surging in Germany and could take over the Chancellery at the next election — also whipped to vote against von der Leyen, though their opposition is not all personal, but rather due to the fact that she is not a Spitzenkandidat (the lead candidate put forward by each parliamentary bloc in the European elections). The German public are not fans either. According to the most recent SPON poll, 68 per cent are unsatisfied with her work as defence minister. Defence minister is a tough job, but that’s a strikingly poor number. Nevertheless, many Germans are pleased that one of their countrymen — or rather women — will head the European Commission for the first time in 50 years. Putting a German face on the EU could improve the Commission’s messaging towards Europe’s biggest member state. span id="docs-internal-guid-36c63774-7fff-ea93-5b1d-71...https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2019/07/german-european-how-ursula-von-der-leyen-rose-become-eu-president

Germany’s Landesbanken still seeking clean bill of health - Financial Times

One public sector bank yet to be given a clean bill of health is Hanover-based NordLB, a lender with €160bn in assets majority-owned by the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with regional Sparkassen holding a minority stake of 35 per cent.The bank, weighed down by a vast portfolio of non-performing shipping loans, expects that it will be singled out as the weakest link in Germany’s banking system in the European Banking Authority’s stress test on Friday. “That would not be a surprise,” NordLB told the Financial Times. The lender has started to woo new investors in an attempt to raise fresh capital of about €3.5bn, with the state of Lower-Saxony standing ready to pitch in taxpayers’ money alongside external investors. Six potential bidders are conducting due diligence and have until November 28 to decide if they will table a binding offer. Among the suitors is Landesbank peer Helaba, as well as listed rival Commerzbank, private equity funds Cerberus and three other PE investors, said a person familiar with the process. “I am glad that we have different options and am open for several different scenarios,” Lower Saxony’s finance minister Reinhold Hilbers told the FT, adding that a deal with a different Landesbank as well as one with private investors was on the ca...https://www.ft.com/content/d7d380cc-dcdb-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c