Germany: Car drives into crowd in Passau

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Man drives into group of people in Passau

A man drove a car into a group of people in Passau, a city in southern Germany's state of Bavaria, police said on Saturday.

Police added they do not yet know if the act was intentional.

The circumstances of the incident are still unclear, as is the number of people injured and the severity of their injuries.

According to tabloid Bild, the driver has been detained.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Merz gaining popularity as leader, CDU/CSU's lead over AfD grows - Survey

According to a new poll, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's popularity has increased significantly in his first weeks in office.

The survey, conducted by the INSA research institute for the tabloid Bild and published on Saturday, found that 36% of the 1,202 respondents were satisfied with the performance of the 69-year-old conservative thus far.

This rating is 13 percentage points higher than it was four weeks ago. Meanwhile, 45% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Merz, a 4-percentage-point decrease from the last survey. Another 19% did not know how to answer.

The popularity of Germany's coalition government under Merz seems to have also increased.

The survey found that 37% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the partnership between the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD).

This represents an increase from the previous survey's 29%. Meanwhile, 45% expressed dissatisfaction, and 18% did not know how to answer.

The gap between the CDU/CSU and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is also growing. The conservative bloc gained one percentage point from the previous week, reaching 27% support.

The far-right AfD followed with 23% support, down one percentage point from the previous week.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Germany has to overhaul its military by 2028, official says

The German armed forces have three years to acquire the equipment necessary to counter a potential Russian attack on NATO territory, according to the head of military procurement.

"Everything necessary to be fully prepared to defend the country must be acquired by 2028," Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of the Federal Office for Military Procurement, told Tagesspiegel newspaper.

Lehnigk-Emden stressed that Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government is enabling the upgrade by allocating hundreds of billions of euros for defense. Heavy equipment such as Skyranger anti-aircraft tanks would be the priority, she added.

Recently, Germany's Chief of Defense General Carsten Breuer warned that Russia could be in a position to "launch a large-scale attack against NATO territory" as early as 2029.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Report: EU paid green groups to pressure German firms over climate

The European Union's executive arm has been accused of paying environmental groups to launch lawsuits and negative campaigns against Germancompanies to reaffirm the policies to tackle climate change, a German newspaper reported.

Welt am Sonntag said it had seen secret contracts between the European Commission and several green groups worth millions of euros dating back to 2022.

The newspaper alleged that the Berlin-based NGO ClientEarth was paid €350,000 ($399,000) to entangle German coal-fired power plants in legal cases that would increase the operators' "financial and legal risk."

Germany has set a deadline of 2038, at the latest, to phase out coal power plantsImage: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images

The report alleged that Friends of the Earth was paid to campaign against the Mercosur free trade agreement between the EU and South America.

Other groups received funding to influence EU lawmakers before votes on pesticides and chemicals, the paper alleged.

The report accused officials in Brussels of coordinating with activists down to the last detail.

Former MEP Markus Pieper, of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, said the payments were a violation of the principle of separation of powers in government.

Monika Hohlmeier, an MEP for the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, hit out at what she said were "radical actions, covert political lobbying," as well as the "exertion of pressure on decision-makers."

"I was particularly shocked by the subversive plans to force everything from farms to coal-fired power plants to abandon their economic activities through lawsuits and the massive tightening of documentation requirements," she told the paper.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Germany loses 100,000 industrial jobs in a year — report

Germany's economic downturn has cost more than 100,000 jobs over the past year, research by EY has found.

The auditing and consulting giant found that by the end of the first quarter of 2025, German industry employed 5.46 million people — 1.8% or 101,000 fewer than a year earlier.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a record high of around 5.7 million people were employed in the industrial sector.

EV used data from the Federal Statistical Office in its research.

The firm found that Germany's auto sector had cut 45,400 jobs on a net basis as the transition to electric vehicles is lesslabor-intensive.

German automakers are facing intense competition from Chinese rivalsImage: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Jan Brorhilker, managing partner at EY, told dpa news agency that German firms remain under intense pressure.

"Aggressive competitors, particularly from China, are driving down prices, key sales markets are weakening, demand in Europe is stagnating at a low level and there is significant uncertainty surrounding the entire US market. At the same time, companies are struggling with high costs for energy and personnel, for example," Brorhilker said.

He added that EV expects at least 70,000 more industrial jobs to be lost by the end of the year, due to cost-cutting in the mechanical and automotive engineering sectors.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Lawmaker slams activists over border incident tied to court ruling

A center-right German politician has accused asylum activists of "staging" an incident where three Somali asylum seekers were turned away at the border.

The decision led a court in Berlin on Monday to declare Germany's new migration pushback policy illegal, as it was not handled under the EU's Dublin Regulation. 

Alexander Hoffmann, the new head of the Christian Social Union's (CSU) parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, singled out the group Pro Asyl, accusing them of helping the trio to circumvent immigration rules.

The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

Hoffmann told the Augsburger Allgemeine that the incident on May 9 bore "almost absurd traits."

He alleged that the Somalis had received support from Pro Asyl even before they tried to enter the country, which the group strongly rejected.

"Pro Asyl has been traveling along the refugee routes for years, including at the border crossings. Refugees are advised to throw away their ID cards because this makes deportation from Germany much more difficult," Hoffmann said

He added that one of the Somalis was "of legal age" during their first two attempts to enter Germany, but then identified as a minor on the third attempt, and had carried forged identity documents.

All three had new cell phones that could not be used to trace their route of travel to Germany.

"For me, this has clear traits of a staging by asylum activists," Hoffmann told the newspaper.

Although the trio were returned to Poland, they were later allowed to enter Germany following the court ruling.

Pro Asyl Managing Director Karl Kopp denied Hoffmann's allegations and criticized the turnbacks under Merz's government as violating European law.  

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Firefighters extinguish blaze at Dresden former operetta theater

Firefighters say they had to abandon efforts to save the roof structure of the theaterImage: Christoph Petersen/dpa/picture alliance

A major fire that devastated part of the former home of the state operetta in Germany's eastern city of Dresden has been extinguished, authorities said.

The blaze erupted on Friday evening, prompting an emergency response by up to 150 firefighters.

The theater, located in the east of the city, was once home to one of Germany's oldest operetta ensembles, dating back over 240 years. The building has lain empty for years.

Firefighters said the rear section of the building, which housed the audience area, was destroyed.

Due to the risk of collapse, both the main structure of the theater and the former auditorium can no longer be entered.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. One firefighter was treated on-site for circulatory problems.

Two nearby residential buildings were evacuated as a precaution. 

Smouldering pockets in the roof and rear of the building were still being extinguished on Saturday morning.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Germany's industrial sector 'positive' on tariffs after Merz-Trump talks

Germany's leading industry organization has welcomed Chancellor Friedrich Merz's meeting with US President Donald Trump this week, saying it is hopeful of an easing in the trade dispute between the European Union and the United States.

"The personal meeting between Chancellor Merz and US President Trump was a positive signal for trans-Atlantic relations," Wolfgang Niedermark, an executive board member of the Federation of German Industries' (BDI), told the Rheinische Post.

"We also see this as a positive boost for the ongoing tariff negotiations between the EU and the US," he added.

Niedermark noted how Germany is the third-largest foreign investor in the US, but that investment had slowed due to Trump's "trade policy turbulence."

He said German firms were particularly active in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, digital hardware and networking, and in mechanical engineering, where he said "the US relies on our expertise."

Merz met Trump in the White House on Thursday in what has generally been seen as a positive debut on the foreign policy front for the new chancellor.

While Trump has temporarily paused some of the tariffs threatened against the EU in April, Brussels and Washington are struggling to find a solution to the dispute.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

German interior to seek EU verdict on border turnbacks

Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the German government would seek a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the legality of migrant turnbacks at the border.

Dobrindt's comments to the Funke media group follow a ruling by a court in Berlin on Monday that the refusal to allow three Somali nationals to enter last month was unlawful.

The court ruled that on May 9, border guards failed to initiate proper asylum procedures and returned the trio to Poland.

According to the court, Germany should have applied the  European Union's so-called Dublin Regulation, establishing which country is responsible for the asylum claim of the migrants, before they were sent back.

The Dublin rule specifies which EU state should process an asylum application, partly to prevent arrivals from making claims in wealthier countries rather than the first EU nation that they entered.

Dobrindt said the government would provide its rationale for invoking Article 72 — a special clause under EU law that permits exceptions to the Dublin rule in emergencies.

"We will submit sufficient justification, but the European Court of Justice should decide on the matter," Dobrindt said, adding: "I am convinced that our actions are in line with European law."

Dobrindt insisted that Germany had to crack down on illegal migration, which he said would prevent the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from pushing more radical solutions.

Germany introduced tougher border checks on May 7, including new rules allowing asylum seekers to be turned away at the border for the first time.

In the first days of the new rule, 19 people who sought asylum in Germany were denied entry, along with nearly 300 other migrants, local media reported. Following this week's court ruling, the cabinet approved even stricter measures.

06/07/2025June 7, 2025

Welcome to our Germany coverage

Guten Tag! DW is bringing you updates from across Germany, where Trump's tariffs, migrant turnbacks and a former operetta in Dresden are making headlines.

After Chancellor Friedrich Merz met US President Donald Trump at the White House, German businesses are hopeful of a breakthrough in trade talks with the United States.

Following a Berlin Administrative Court ruling that the government's policy of turning away migrants at the border was illegal, Germany's interior minister has vowed to go to the European Court of Justice.

Also, parts of the former state operetta building in Dresden, eastern Germany, are at risk of collapse after a major fire.

We'll have the latest headlines, analyses, multimedia content, and DW on-the-ground reporting on everything to do with Germany.