What does the political situation in Germany look like before the European elections? What is Germany’s attitude to the Russian war in Ukraine? And how are the green and liberal parties faring?
In this episode, we talk about German strategy towards the war in Ukraine, a shift in the defense policy, the future of EU enlargement and strategic autonomy, and how Germans perceive Zeitenwende.
A study by the Pestel Institute and the Construction Research Institute ARGE caused a stir at the beginning of the year. According to calculations, a housing shortage of over 700,000 units could occur in Germany during this year. This would be the largest housing deficit in over twenty years.
In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski (Fundacja Liberté!) welcomes Dr. Thomas Bagger, Germany’s Ambassador to the Republic of Poland. They talk about the EU Energy crisis, German eastern policy, EU response to the war in Ukraine, and Polish-German relations.
Hundreds of tones of dead fish have recovered from the Oder river. First dead fish were spotted already in late July. In early August, some anglers and local politicians from Lower Silesia alarmed regional authorities. There was no reaction. The mass die-off was detected when locals came across thousands of fish corpses near the village of Widuchowa on 11 August.
The civic legislative initiative “Legal abortion without compromises” was rejected by the Sejm. The draft law assumed legalization of abortion in Poland up to the 12th week of pregnancy. After this period, termination of pregnancy would be possible in the case of a threat to the life and health of the mother.
Heat waves, droughts and heavy rain: Germany is beginning to experience the impact of climate change. Although heat waves are not a new phenomenon, the changing climate means that they are becoming more frequent and lasting longer. This is particularly noticeable in the cities, where more and more often, the heat is becoming intolerable in summer.
Poland’s government was quicker than Germany to recognise the danger posed by Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and his superpower ambitions. And the Polish government acted quickly.
Polish administration announced plans to end the import of Russian coal within two months and of Russian oil by the end of this year. The government approved legislation to introduce a ban which may contravene EU trade rules.
Russia is dangerous and disregarding this fact may end badly for us. Secondly, Germany’s weakness (its fear of taking the lead) is more dangerous to us than its strength. And finally, the most important thing: we can do very little on our own.
