#507: Federal reforms, local poll, evil couple investigated
You have to take the street to Görli now
Hey 20 Percent,
The federal government yesterday unveiled a number of reforms — for example, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) wants you to get a sick note from your doctor even if you’re just out for a day (down from three currently) and will no longer allow doctors to issue the notes over the phone.
Too many people are sick all the time, he says. Judging by the outrage, this reform won’t make it through parliament.
But he also announced a curious, quirky law: He wants a federal law that prohibits the nationalization of residential real estate. It’s in response to a 2021 Berlin referendum that wants a law to limit corporate landlords to just 3,000 flats each, and force them to sell any surplus to government housing companies.
Politicians have since dragged their feet at implementing the referendum but passing a federal law to counter a legal, democratic referendum is a bizarre leck mich (up yours) to not only voters but also democracy.
Could we stop arguing about housing policy and finally do what it takes to build the residential real estate people need? That would make both potential laws unnecessary.
But it’s also virtue signaling to the rest of conservative Germany that he’s going to do his best to hog-tie what they see as a maniacally woke and chaotic Berlin (ergo: us).
Merz is like a cliche step-parent — when he first shows up, you don’t see what your parent sees in them but you’re willing to try but you ultimately just start counting the days until you’re off to college or, in this case, he gets ousted in the next election. In the meantime, he just keeps telling you how worthless you are.
Have a good, cooler weekend!
Andrew
Conservatives out, lefties in (again)
While we’re digesting what the mostly-conservative national government just threw at us, Berlin voters have clearly had enough of the conservative policies and disastrous crisis management of our local conservative leader, Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU). The latest “Sunday Poll”, which asks how people would vote were the Berlin election last Sunday, most (20%) said they’d vote for leftists Die Linke, gaining 5 percentage points since the May poll, followed by environmentalists Die Grüne (19%), up 4 percentage points. The conservative CDU, once the city-state’s favorite party, is now fourth, a drop of five percentage points. The CDU won the last election with 28.2% followed by the Grünen and the SPD, which each had 18.4%. The SPD garnered just 13% in the poll, according to RBB24. It looks like we’ll be returning to a red-red-green coalition with the first-ever Die Linke mayor.
From my wife
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Saturday · 3 pm to 6 pm, HeiplBerlin, Danziger Straße 57 · free Design retailer HeiplBerlin is teaming up with US outdoor goods maker Topo Design for Fashion Week. Personalize your own Topo accessory bag — the first 30 participants get one free. Food, drinks and of course shop HeiplBerlin’s execellent assortmment of German and international design. I’ll be there since it’s my wife’s store. Come say hi and have a Bier.
Cops investigating mule recruiters
From politicians making bad decisions to a nefarious, criminal pair forcing young women into bad situations: Police are investigating a pair for luring women with the promise of cash and free travel to become potentially unknowing drug mules, according to RBB24. The pair recruited women over Signal and Snapchat to take closed suitcases full of narcotics abroad. One 18-year-old Berlinerin was caught at Sydney airport in 2024 with 20kg of crystal meth while two other women were caught at Iceland’s Keflavik airport with 20,000 Oxycodon pills. The Australian case resulted in a four-year-prison sentence while the women in Iceland got a year each — the Iceland court said the women likely didn’t know what they were transporting but should have.
Görli Brücken no more
And one final bad decision — four former train bridges popular with commuters between Kreuzberg and Treptow have been closed. The Görli bridges shuttle commuters into and out of Görlitzer Park — and over the Landwehrkanal — but are rusting and in need of repair. Treptow-Köpenick rents the bridges from owner Deutsche Bahn, who closed the bridges, and the two have been unable to agree on how to save them. Deutsche Bahn will most likely hand ownership to the borough, which will then have to fund and carry out the necessary repairs. See also the drama around the closed-then-opened-again Yorck bridges south of Gleisdreieck Park.
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Meet Kaori Itami
Kaori Itami is a self-taught artist originally from Japan who has called Berlin home for the past six years. She began drawing in 2022 during the COVID lockdowns, starting with whatever color pencils and crayons she had on hand, and she never stopped. Drawing is her way of unwinding after work and on weekends, and her work carries that quiet, personal energy throughout. To see more of her art, please visit Floor 4 of Museum For A Rainy Day, a free download for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
👨🦲 The story about the reforms again
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⚽ Naglesmann is out, is Klopp in?
🪼 Nord Stream saboteur in court
Factoid
How about a little good news? Inflation slowed to a near-normal 2.2% in June, down from 2.5% in May, as energy prices dropped, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg stats people. Food inflation softened for the first time since March 2024 with prices dropping (DROPPING!) 0.3% in June — butter was a whopping 23.8% cheaper and potatoes 13.5%. Inflation continued to climb in services (3.7%) and rent (4.2%), however.
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The sick note "reform" seems like a great way to clog up doctor's offices. I understand the problem. But there must be a better way.
Here's is what's going to happen if the "sick note from the first day" becomes a thing; people will get more sick leave, not less. If you just called in for a day or two, you would probably go back to work on day three or day four. If, however, you have to go to the trouble of getting a "Krankschreibung", you're going to be out a full week...at the least. And that's from a doctor that doesn't just rubber stamp the sick leave. Some shadier MDs will simply ask you how much time you want off. So, as usual, this is some kind of punitive measure that will actually achieve the opposite of what it's trying to do. More of the whole "beatings will continue until morale improves" philosophy of leadership. Very inspiring!