German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that the centrist coalition government has approved a broad package of reforms aimed at reviving the sluggish economy and restoring competitiveness. Merz said his conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) had endorsed a "catalog of significant reforms."
The package includes €10 billion in income tax relief, the end of phone-based sick notes, and implementation of pension commission proposals by end of 2026. At a press conference, Merz stated: "We are providing relief to employees and businesses by cutting taxes and reducing bureaucracy."
Coalition leaders—Merz, SPD co-leaders Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil, and Bavarian CSU leader Markus Söder—met in Berlin to finalize details. They praised the reforms, expressing confidence in broad public support. Söder called the package "well-rounded," while Klingbeil said it would "give our country new strength."
Meanwhile, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court upheld a ban on sex dolls with childlike features, rejecting constitutional complaints. The court ruled that restrictions on personal rights are justified. The 2021 law criminalizes production, sale, purchase, and possession of such dolls, with penalties up to five years in prison.
German federal prosecutors filed charges against a Ukrainian national over a series of blasts on the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022. The 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier from Kyiv is accused of leading a team of seven accomplices in destroying three of four key gas conduits.
A hospital fire in northern Germany killed two patients, with authorities believing it started in a patient's room and spread to the roof. Additionally, the Robert Koch Institute estimates 810 heat-related deaths from January to June 25, 2026, though the peak summer period is yet to come.
Two businessmen, German-Russian brothers, confessed to illegally exporting industrial equipment to Russia in violation of EU sanctions. They admitted shipping machinery parts worth over €830,000 via shell companies in Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, facing potential sentences of up to four years and eight months.
Source: www.dw.com