Germany news: Merz 'cityscape' criticism continues

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is continuing to face criticism for his controversial "cityscape" remarks last week, in which he insinuated that migrants and refugees have had a negative impact on the physical appearance of German towns.

After facing immediate backlash, Merz doubled down on his comments on Monday, urging people to "ask your daughters" what he meant. This has been slammed by some as racist for implying that immigrant men are more likely to commit sexual harassment or other crimes — a claim not borne out by data.

Tim Klüssendorf, the general secretary of the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner in the coalition government alongside Merz's conservative CDU/CSU alliance, said it was fine to discuss problems in Germany, but warned against simplifications and generalizations.

"Linking everything back to a single issue, the issue of migration, and conflating and generalizing everything – that just divides people and destroys trust," he told ntv, adding: "I have higher expectations of a head of government."

Similar criticism was voiced from within Merz's own CDU, with one senior lawmaker, Dennis Radtke, calling for a more appropriate style from the chancellor. Merz is no longer a "commentator on edge of the action, throwing out opinions," he told the Funke media group.

Rather, Merz has a "particular responsibility for the cohesiveness of our society and our debate culture."

While there may be certain issues in some parts of Germany, Radtke cautioned that "problems like drug addiction, homelessness or toxic masculinity among young people can't simply be deported; they have to be dealt with properly."

A new investigation by Bavarian public broadcaster Bayrischer Rundfunk (BR) has revealed how Islamist terror organizations such as the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) or the Palestinian militant group Hamas solicit donations in Germany as part of their fundraising campaigns.

"Donate your wealth to jihad," reads one social media most investigated by BR, calling on potential supporters in Germany to help fund the purchase of AK47 assault rifles (reportedly €1,000 or $1,162) and ammunition (€50/$58 per magazine).

As part of their investigation, researchers spoke to a former female IS member who said that women are particularly involved in calling for donations from other women online. "They're highly motivated," the woman said. "They're certainly dangerous."

According to BR, one of the central figures is a woman from Munich by the name of Elif Ö.*, who traveled to Syria as a 16-year-old back in 2015 and now coordinates foreign, female fundraising for IS.

German courts have already sentenced several people who have collected donations totaling over €40,000 on her behalf, money which has allegedly been used to help radicalized IS women to escape from prison camps in northern Syria.

According to legal experts, however, convicting people of donating money to terror organizations isn't easy, since the crime of "financing terrorism" must be proven by demonstrating that a donation was used for a specific crime.

"You effectively have to prove that a specific euro was intended to go towards the purchase of a Kalashnikov or explosives or the preparation of a specific attack," explains Hans-Jakob Schindler of the New York, London and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project (CEP). "And [giving away such evidence] would be a level of stupidity which few terror financers ever reach."

Germany's Justice Ministry is already working on making the mere attempt to finance terrorism a criminal act, and published draft legislation in July. However, when or whether the German parliament, the Bundestag, will discuss the proposal, or what the legislation would ultimately entail, remains unclear.

*DW follows the German press code, which protects the identities of criminal suspects and victims.

Ahead of World Pasta Day on Saturday (yes, that's a thing), the Federal Statistics Office in Berlin has calculated that Germany imported 469,700 tons of spaghetti, fusilli, tagliatelle, ravioli and penne in 2024 – with a value of approximately €646.6 million ($750.5 million).

Of that amount, 404,100 tons came from south of the Alps in Italy – some 86%, ahead of Austria (3.6%) and Turkey (1.5%).

When it comes to pasta, Germany imports far more than it exports, sending only 108,000 tons of pasta abroad in 2024 – worth around €168.5 million, and a 12.6% increase on 2023.

The biggest importer of German pasta is France (23.2%), followed by the United Kingdom (20.1%) and Poland (9.1%).

Bayern Munich have extended head coach Vincent Kompany's contract with the club until June 2029.

The 39-year-old Belgian joined the club from English side Burnley last summer and led Bayern to the Bundesliga title in his first season – winning the title back from previous champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Kompany's contract was initially due to expire in summer 2027 but, after 49 wins from his 67 games so far, most recently a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, Bayern have offered him an early extension.

"Vincent Kompany has brought the fun back to FC Bayern – and the spark has really caught on," said Bayern chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen. "Under his leadership, a real team has grown that plays dominant and attractive football. Moreover, I like Vincent's level-headedness. He never pushes himself into the limelight and makes our players better with his meticulous work."

Kompany's success over the past year has come as a pleasant surprise to many in Munich, given that he was far from first choice to take over from former head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Indeed, Bayern were rejected by Xabi Alonso (who stayed at Leverkusen before joining Real Madrid), Julian Nagelsmann (who remained with the German national team), Ralf Rangnick (who stayed with the Austrian national team) and Oliver Glasner (who opted to join English side Crystal Palace instead), among others, before finally settling on the relatively inexperienced Kompany, who had just been relegated from the Premier League with Burnley.

The rather embarrassing saga was seen by some as a sign of crisis at the Allianz Arena. Now, however, director of sport Max Eberl insists: "When we appointed Vinny, we had a clear vision of our shared path and he quickly proved that he would help FC Bayern move forward – both on and off the pitch. He’s a role model who unites players, fans and everyone at the club, and we want to build something long-term with him."

Kompany's next game in charge of Bayern will be against his compatriots from Club Bruges in the Champions League on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hopes that one of the European Union's planned artificial intelligence servers, known as AI gigafactories, will be built in Germany.

"I hope very much that we will be able to have at least one of these AI gigafactories in Germany," he said on Tuesday following a meeting with the regional government of the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg – one of several German regions vying for the green light from Brussels.

"We have applications from Bavaria, from Baden-Württemberg, from North Rhine-Westphalia, plus consortiums from other parts of the country," he said.

His host on Tuesday, veteran Baden-Württemberg state premier Winfried Kretschmann (Green Party), is convinced that his state would be the best choice, especially given the strength of the automobile and machine manufacturing industries in the south-west.

Kretschmann said the Baden-Württemberg bid "absolutely has the full support of the state government" and that the consortium in question "could begin the construction and operation of a gigafactory immediately."

The European Commission is set to decide by the end of the year which of the planned six-billion-euro gigafactories should receive a 30% EU subsidy.

Later on Tuesday, Merz and Kretschmann were also set to visit the artificial intelligence innovation park (IPAI) in Heilbronn, just north of Stuttgart.

Heavy September rain has resulted in a smaller German wine harvest than predicted, according to the German Wine Institute (DWI), which has measured a 10% drop-off compared to the average yield.

The DWI expects a total of just under 8 million hectoliters of must, the freshly crushed grape juice which is used to make wine, which is about the same as last year (7.8m hectoliters) but lower than the usual 8.7m hectoliters recorded on average over the last ten years.

"When the heavy rain arrived in mid-September, with up to 100 liters per square meter in some parts, the harvest had to be accelerated," explained DWI spokesman Ernst Büscher. "Many grapes had to be sorted out, those that remained were a bit smaller, and so the juice yield wasn't as high."

Nevertheless, there is still some good news for wine connoisseurs, with Büscher insisting that the quality of this year's harvest is looking good.

Police are investigating after a bus was stopped by armed men on a motorway in Bavaria at around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

The incident reportedly took place on the A93 autobahn between Munich and Regensburg when three men signaled to the bus to pull over in an imitation of a police check.

After robbing the bus passengers of cash and documents, the men, who reportedly carried weapons, fled southwards towards Munich in a small van.

Their current whereabouts remain unknown, and police have appealed for witnesses.

Guten Morgen! Welcome to our coverage of news and developments in Germany on Tuesday, October 21.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz is continuing to face criticism for his controversial "cityscape" remarks last week, including from within his own coalition and even his own party.

In other news, new research has revealed how terrorist organizations such as the "Islamic State" group (IS) and Hamas target donations from Germany as part of their fundraising efforts.

Meanwhile, German teams are preparing for action in the Champions League tonight as Bayer Leverkusen host reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund travel to Copenhagen.