Germany news: Hamburgers are happiest Germans, study says

We'll be back with a roundup of the latest news from Germany tomorrow.

The German Defense Ministry is set to scrap plans to transition former military real estate to civilian use in response to the growing needs of Germany's expanding armed forces.

Among the properties affected are 187 former Bundeswehr bases and 13 which are still in use, including the air base at Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich and part of the former Berlin-Tegel Airport.

Given that, in some cases, agreements had already been struck regarding the future civilian use of former military property, the Defense Ministry admitted that it is expecting conflict with local authorities.

"We are aware of the magnitude of this decision and we know that, in many cases, plans already exist to put the spaces in question to civilian use," said Nils Hilmer, the Defense Ministry state secretary responsible for infrastructure.

He said the ministry wanted to "find the right path in dialogue with federal states and local authorities in order to implement the Bundeswehr's necessary plans in the interest of all."

In recent decades, many former Bundeswehr bases across the country have already been converted into residential areas.

German Defense Chief Carstens Breuer, has warned of the limitations of drone defenses and cautioned against overly high expectations.

"You can't protect everything," said General Breuer in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) broadsheet to be published on Tuesday, arguing that "an opponent has taken the initiative [in drone warfare]" and that "we as an open society have a number of vulnerable points."

General Breuer gave the interview alongside his Danish counterpart General Michael Hyldgaard, whose country has also had to deal with suspicious drone activity in recent weeks.

"Everyone has to learn how to deal with drones," said Hyldgaard. "It's extremely complicated and developments are taking place rapidly. It's going to take time to integrate [drone defense] into our air defense."

General Breuer said that Germany, Denmark and other European Union and NATO countries have made "huge steps" in the field of drone defense but said he saw room for improvement in defense against hybrid threats both on land and sea. "We're not yet where we want and need to be, but we're making progress," he said.

In the meantime, General Hyldgaard said, Denmark is also investing in medium and long range precision missiles. "We want to be able to defend ourselves and deter [enemies]," he explained.

"Look at Ukraine: without the ability to hit targets far behind the lines with deep, precise strikes, they're at a disadvantage."

The strong public support for Munich's Olympic plans has increased pressure on the other three German candidates.

In a referendum on Sunday, over 66% of voters backed the Munich's bid, boosting its chances to host for a second time, after 1972.

The strong public support has intensified pressure on rival German candidates: Berlin, Hamburg, and the Rhine-Ruhr region.

Hamburg and Rhine-Ruhr will hold their own referendums next year, while Berlin plans public engagement without a vote.

Germany's Olympic Sports Confederation will choose the official bidder in September 2026.

It must also decide whether to aim for the 2036, 2040, or 2044 Games.

The German public broadcaster ZDF on Monday said the employee of a partner company who was recently killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip was a member of the Islamist militant organization Hamas.

According to the broadcaster, Israel has presented a document proving this.

In response, the broadcaster announced that cooperation with the company Palestine Media Production (PMP) has been suspended until further notice. ZDF said it had worked with the company for decades.

"ZDF welcomes the fact that the Israeli army has complied with the request to clarify the identity of the employee of the production company PMP who was killed in Gaza," it said in a statement.

ZDF said the evidence showed the man's Hamas membership. He was not a ZDF employee and was not involved in journalistic matters, it said.

The 37-year-old, who worked as an engineer for the production company, was killed on October 19 in Deir al-Balah, a city in the center of the Palestinian territory.

The broadcaster said that it had no evidence that other PMP employees could be Hamas members.

According to ZDF, the eight-year-old son of another employee was also killed.

An Italian court has approved the extradition of a Ukrainian man suspected of taking part in the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, his lawyer confirmed Wednesday.

The decision clears the way for German prosecutors to question the suspect directly in connection with the sabotage, which severed a key link for Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Click here for more on that story.

Business sentiment in Germany improved in October, driven by more optimistic expectations for the months ahead, according to data released by the Munich-based Ifo Institute.

The Ifo Business Climate Index rose from 87.7 points in September to 88.4 points, though companies rated their current situation slightly worse than the previous month.

In manufacturing, confidence increased mainly due to brighter expectations. The institute said the decline in new orders had come to a halt, and capacity utilization rose slightly, though it remained well below the long-term average. Firms were less satisfied with their ongoing business than in September.

The Ifo said mood in the services sector improved "significantly," with providers expressing less skepticism about the near future and slightly better assessments of current conditions. Tourism and IT services contributed most to the upswing.

Germany's domestic intelligence chief Sinan Selen has described espionage and sabotage as among the biggest current threats facing the country, according to remarks published by the German news agency DPA.

Selen said the security situation had shifted and intensified over the past decade, requiring greater focus and prioritization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).

The Cologne-based agency, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary on Monday with a ceremony at Germany's Interior Ministry in Berlin.

Selen said the agency's main concerns included multipolar threats, espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, international terrorism, and violent extremism. Early identification of networks, activities, and key figures behind them would be essential, he noted.

Founded in 1950 amid Cold War tensions, the BfV was established to safeguard Germany's democratic order and was deliberately barred from police powers due to historical concerns. The agency continues to cooperate with police through joint counterterrorism and extremism centers in Berlin.

Reflecting on past failures, Selen acknowledged that the agency's history included controversies such as the 2011 destruction of files related to the neo-Nazi NSU murders, which led to the resignation of then-President Heinz Fromm.

He also addressed the agency's current monitoring of political parties, noting that while tensions with the socialist Left Party persisted, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) faced the most scrutiny. The BfV had classified the AfD in May as a "confirmed right-wing extremist organization," but suspended the designation pending a court decision after the party filed a legal challenge.

A new report has found that life satisfaction in eastern Germany has been rising more quickly than in the west, while Hamburg residents were identified as the happiest overall.

According to the SKL Happiness Atlas, published Monday in Berlin, overall life satisfaction in Germany has stabilized at a high level. The report said the national happiness score had risen by 0.03 points from the previous year to 7.09 on a scale from zero to ten, returning to its pre-pandemic level.

The report explained that the increase was mainly driven by eastern Germany, which gained 0.12 points compared with the previous year, while western Germany saw only a small rise of 0.02 points. The authors said the "happiness gap" between east and west had therefore narrowed to a level similar to that of the late 2010s.

The study found regional variations as well. Hamburg ranked first again with a score of 7.33, followed by Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate at 7.21 each, and North Rhine-Westphalia at 7.10. Schleswig-Holstein, which had topped the ranking for years, dropped to fifth place with 7.12. Bremen, Berlin, and Saarland remained at the bottom, while Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ranked last with 6.06 points.

The report said happiness had risen most among people aged 16 to 25, who were now more satisfied than before the pandemic. By contrast, life satisfaction among those aged 61 to 74 had declined, with inflation and growing loneliness cited as key factors.

Guten Tag from DW's newsroom in rainy Bonn and Danke Schön for joining us.

A new study shows life satisfaction in eastern Germany has been growing faster than in the west, with Hamburg topping the national happiness rankings.

At closer inspection, though, things were more complicated. Hamburg, once part of West Germany, ranked highest, while the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania came last.

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