Can anything rouse Germany from its economic slumber?
Politicians are more interested in trivial budget rows than finding sources of growth
PITY THE the leading lights of Germany’s government. Last month they struck an eleventh-hour deal for next year’s budget, narrowly averting the collapse of their three-party coalition. Now it is all unravelling. Experts convened by Christian Lindner, the finance minister and leader of the fiscally hawkish Free Democrats, concluded that accounting tricks in the draft budget designed to circumvent Germany’s deficit-limiting “debt brake” risk falling foul of the constitutional court.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Flatlining”
Europe August 10th 2024
- Russia’s bloody summer offensive is hurting Ukraine
- How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?
- Ukraine surprises with a high-stakes raid into Russia
- Can anything rouse Germany from its economic slumber?
- Turkey’s president refuses to let sleeping dogs lie
- The siesta is still a serious business in Europe’s south
From the August 10th 2024 edition
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Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine
Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses