News of the day: Friedrich Merz at the investment summit; Vanessa Emde and the Berlin Left; Germany ticket light

Billion summit of the government – how does the Chancellor want to attract investors to Germany?

No solution in the dispute over controversial MPs – how is it with Vanessa Emde and the Berlin left?

Smart fare for occasional drivers – will the Deutschlandticket light soon be coming?

Chancellor Merz, Minister Reiche, Nvidia CEO Huang, Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius

chris.emil-janssen.de / Chris Emil Janßen / IMAGO

Do you remember? The Germans must work more, Friedrich Merz warned us a while ago. He wrote: With a four-day week and work-life balance, we will not be able to maintain the prosperity of this country. ‘

That with the image of the allegedly labor-shy German citizen, international companies are hard to convince to invest their money in Germany, then probably also the Chancellor understands. At the investment summit of the Federal government, Merz therefore adopted different tones today: diligent were the Germans, went to sleep early, stood before sunrise, met dates. And even on holiday we were the first on the beach and laid out our towels before breakfast.

With these sympathetic clichés, Merz wanted to compete for private investors. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil expressed it to the approximately 200 CEOs from home and abroad a little more unadorned: “I want your money.”

According to the government, the advertising is successful: CDU Minister of economy Katherina Reiche spoke today of investment commitments at the summit of more than 220 billion euros for this year. Sounds great. However, caution is required with such figures, as my colleague Markus Becker from our business department knows. A spokesman from the Reich Ministry later corrected that the sum did not have anything directly to do with the summit. Instead, it is the general sum of investment projects since the beginning of the year. What investments will result from the summit, on the other hand, is not yet foreseeable.

Read the whole text: And suddenly the glass is again half full

What about Vanessa Emde and the Berlin Left? We should be clear about this today. The parliamentary group executive of the left had invited the controversial MEPs because of their radical criticism of Israel to the rapport. But Emde apologized for the digital session in the morning. She was ill, they say. The problem remains, the solution is postponed. Next week, the group is to discuss further.

For the left and its planned coalition negotiations with the Greens and SPD, this is unfortunate. Although the left group leadership Emde had already expressed the mistrust days ago and declared that it no longer saw any basis for cooperation with her. But what does that mean? Should she be excluded from the group? There is still no answer. The debate about the anti-Semitism problem in parts of the left and the inner-party approach to it continues to swell.

The state of limbo around Emde also annoys many in their own party, can be heard. An influential Berlin leftist told SPIEGEL: “Vanessa Emde is my Friedrich Merz in the Left Party: ignorant of all those who do not share their opinions and without a real interest in the people and their locally solvable problems.”

Emde, on the other hand, received support from her political home district of Neukölln, where she was directly elected as a member of parliament. Hermann Nehls, co-chief of the left in Neukölln, emphasized that Emde has been working constructively in the district association for years. Nehls told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that they are committed to “open, pluralistic and free from the fear of sanctions.”

Read the whole story here: Vanessa Emde reports sick – Berlin Left Group Board Adjourns Debate

When I came to Berlin almost 20 years ago, the normal single ticket in public transport cost 2.10 euros. Since then, the price has risen by around 90 percent: You now pay four euros per trip if you do not have a subscription ticket. Something comes together quickly if you use bus or train every now and then.

But there is the Deutschlandticket, could now object. True, but for occasional drivers this is often too expensive. Currently, the Deutschlandticket costs 63 euros, from next year it is 66.80 euros.

Now comes from North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg an idea that could be attractive for everyone who does not use the public transport all the time, but again and again: a nationwide digital ticket for occasional drivers. Exemplar is an offer that already exists in NRW.

How would it all work? Whenever you travel anywhere in the Republic by bus or train, the journey is registered via the smartphone and automatically charged the cheapest rate. However, the total cost for the month is capped: you never pay more than a Germany ticket would cost.

Sounds reasonable and fair. The Transport Ministers want to discuss the proposal tomorrow at their autumn conference in Hohenschwangau, Bavaria.

Read the whole message here: Does the Deutschlandticket come for occasional drivers?

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