Germany news: 2030 climate goals in danger, experts warn

A 55-year-old man is facing charges of fraud after he spent more than a year in a Berlin hotel without paying.

His total bill for the accommodation from April 2023 to August 2024 came to more than €100,000 ($116,000), according to state prosecutors. 

The man is said to have taken a room at the hotel in Berlin's Treptow-Köpenick district for himself, his partner and two children, falsely saying that his caravan had been burnt-out and that he was ill with cancer.

He is also alleged to have said that an automobile club would pay for his accommodation, which again was a fraudulent claim.

The man was detained in March on an arrest warrant and spent a brief period in pre-trial detention before being released.

  Authorities in the eastern state of Saxony have said the private facility from which a tiger escaped on Sunday after badly injuring a handler before being shot dead does not meet official requirements.

The Nordsachsen District Office said the keeper of the animals, who has been named by local media as Carmen "Tiger Queen" Zander, had been requested in the past to bring the facility up to standard without complying.

There are eight tigers remaining in the enclosure, and authorities are debating what to do with them.

According to Zander's website, the animal was a 9-year-old, 280-kilogram (615 pound) Bengal-Siberian mix named Sandokan.

The Bild daily cited the animal trainer as saying that Sandokan was "a scaredy-cat" and could "quickly become overwhelmed and insecure."

The victim, a 73-year-old man, is being treated in hospital.

 The coalition government has agreed to put on hold a €497 ($578) increase in the salary for members of the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, a senior member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU) has said.

Steffen Bilger, the chief whip for Merz's conservative grouping, told broadcasters RTL and ntv on Monday that discussions on the issue were ongoing.

Junior coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD) have said they are opposed to a pay rise at present, in contrast with the conservative bloc that leads the government.

Currently, the 630 Bundestag deputies receive €12,330 a month.

The hike was to take effect from July 1.

Bilger said, however, that he felt adjusting salaries for parliamentarians in line with salary rises in the general economy was a "sound measure" and that politicians needed adequate remuneration to ensure their independence.

 "We also work hard," he said.

Opposition politicians in the Left Party, the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have also backed suspending the pay rise.

Germany is pausing promotions for thousands of senior non-commissioned officers. The move comes just as Berlin pushes to rapidly expand and modernize the Bundeswehr amid growing security fears in Europe. 

From July 1, promotions for senior NCOs — including army and air force sergeants and their naval equivalents — will be suspended while the military develops a new advancement system due by early 2027.  

The move follows court rulings dating back to 2004, which found that promotions based purely on length of service were unlawful. According to the German Defense Ministry, performance evaluations must play a greater role.  

Until now, some soldiers could expect a promotion after roughly 16 years in service. 

Germany’s highest-ranking military officer, Inspector General Carsten Breuer, acknowledged the frustration in a video message: "This isn’t good, and I don’t like it either." But he argued that the overhaul was necessary to ensure soldiers could still reach their career goals in the future. "We need them to be combat-ready," he added. 

The decision comes at an awkward moment for the government. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to build "the strongest conventional army in Europe," with Germany aiming to increase active-duty troop numbers from 185,000 to 260,000 as NATO members face mounting pressure to take greater responsibility for Europe’s defense. 

Inside the ranks, however, the decision is already fueling anger. Soldier representatives have warned the promotion freeze could become a “complete disaster” for morale and trust among long-serving personnel. 

Gordon Schnieder, the leader of the Christian Democrat (CDU) regional party in Rhineland-Palatinate, was elected as premier of the western state on Monday.

His election marks the CDU's return to government in the state after 35 years of Social Democrat (SPD) rule.

Schnieder, 50, who hails from the rural Eifel region, received 63 votes from 105 votes cast in the state parliament, with 38 voting against him, two abstentions and two invalid ballots.

He will now head a CDU/SPD coalition, mirroring the one at federal level led by his party colleague Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

The CDU won a March 22 election in the state with 31% of the vote, with the SPD coming second on 25.9%. 

Schnieder's brother, Patrick Schnieder, another CDU member, is currently Germany's transport minister.

A team from a town of just 7,000 inhabitants has made history by sealing promotion to become the 59th club to play in the Bundesliga.

Read all about how Elversberg made history by reaching the Bundesliga

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Germany "sharply" condemns the recent Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates and other countries.

"We sharply condemn the renewed Iranian airstrikes against the United Arab Emirates and other partners," he wrote on X.

"Attacks on nuclear facilities are a threat to the security of people in the entire region," he added, referring to Sunday's drone strike that hit a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, causing a fire.

Merz also called on Iran to enter into serious negotiations with the US, to stop threatening its neighbors and to completely open the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has carried out numerous strikes on regional neighbors since the US and Israel began an offensive against the Islamic republic on February 28, and has virtually closed the strait, a key oil transport route.

A ceasefire agreed in early April and since extended is appearing increasingly tenuous as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict falter.

The PCK Refinery in Schwedt, which is a key energy hub for eastern Germany and parts of Poland, is facing new problems with its oil supply after Russia halted the transit of Kazakh crude through the Druzhba pipeline in early May.

The cut in oil supply affects many sectors, including the aviation branch.

DW has this video exploring the issues surrounding the refinery and its options for opening up new supplies.

An independent climate advisory body has contradicted findings by the government's main climate authority showing Germany largely on track to meet its 2030 climate goals, saying the country will likely emit more CO2 than previously thought.

The Council of ‌Experts on Climate Change believes ​Germany could overshoot its CO2 emissions projections by up to 100 million metric tons (110 million US tons).

That compares with the government's Environment Agency's prediction of a possible overshoot of just 4.5 million tons.

Germany has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% from 1990 levels by 2030 ​and to be climate neutral by 2045.

So far, the reduction ​is about ‌48%.

In March, the government put forward an €8 billion ($9.3 billion) plan to fund a range of climate measures, including expanding wind power and boosting sales of electric vehicles.

But the council's chair, Barbara Schlomann, said it believed "the program's actual reduction effect is likely to ​be significantly lower than assumed by the German government."

The Council of Experts on Climate Change is an independent scientific advisory panel established in September 2020 to monitor German climate policy. 

Animal rights group PETA has called for rules on keeping dangerous wild animals to be tightened after a tiger escaped from a private facility near the eastern German city of Leipzig, seriously injuring a 73-year-old man.

 The federal government must finally act," Peter Höfgen, PETA's specialist adviser on wild animals, told the dpa news agency.

He told the agency the incident showed that keeping dangerous wild animals in private ownership or mobile operations was not safe enough.

Höfgen pointed out that private ownership of tigers and lions remained legal in several German states.

He also said that PETA had repeatedly warned authorities about deficiencies at the facility from which the tiger made its escape.  

The animal, which belonged to a well-known circus performer, was shot dead by police shortly after it broke out from its enclosure.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is to receive the new Bulgarian prime minister, Rumen Radev, in Berlin on Monday afternoon.

Radev will be welcomed with military honors at the chancellery before the two leaders hold talks on issues including bilateral relations and European and international security policy.  

A joint press conference is planned for 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Radev, a former Bulgarian president, won an absolute majority of 44.7% in April parliamentary elections in his country and was inaugurated as prime minister last week.

His victory came on the back of pledges to fight corruption.

Radev is, however, also known for his euroskeptic and pro-Russian stance.
      

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has said the government plans to invest billions of euros in a program that aims to bolster Germany's capacity to protect its citizens in the case of conflict or catastrophe.

"We are strengthening population protection and civil defense," Dobrindt told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper in comments published on Monday.

The Bavarian conservative politician also said Germany was shoring up its response capabilities in the face of hybrid threats and increasing support for volunteer emergency workers.

He said there would be tighter integration of military and civilian defense structures to enhance security and resilience.

The newspaper reported that the planned program would be worth €10 billion ($11.6 billion), citing a Cabinet draft.

The funds would be used for additional equipment, buildings, personnel and technology, including for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW).

The DW newsroom in Bonn says a warm guten Tag to all users of Germany's international broadcaster!

You join us as the German chancellor is set to hold talks with newly-elected Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev.

The meeting might well hold some diplomatic challenges for the German leader, as Radev is known for his euroskeptic, pro-Russian stance, one very much opposed to that advocated by Germany.

A tiger that escaped from a private facility near Leipzig, badly injuring a handler in the process, made for sensational headlines on Sunday.

But the incident has led a prominent animal rights group to call on the government to tighten rules on holding such wild animals, which it says are much too lax in Germany.

You can find out more about these and other stories in our blog. Happy reading!