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The future of Germany after Merkel

I have no idea. But my feeling is that al least everyone outside Germany would like it to continue as with Merkel. Seen from outside, she is the kind of sound, intelligent, balanced PM everyone would like to have. Interesting to hear what people here who live in, or are connected to, Germany think.
 
hifinutt said:
met with my German friend today but never touched politics , another day i will ask him . Its a fabulous country and I would not mind living there at all !!!
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I work there and see some things I don't like.

Cash is still king, why?
Entrepreneurs? It's not worth having a go due to the regulatory burdens and lack of SME / start-up incentives, so best go and get a job with a large family firm or with the government.
Customer service is poor. When things go wrong they don't seem to want to roll their sleeves up and sort it. They can't seem to believe it when the system does not work.
The accountancy sector is a protected racket, as is the notary sector.
They are generally protectionist, sell to foreigners but buy from Germans
Some people still feel obliged to pay the church tax, which is a lot.
The food is not great.
The language sounds kind of ugly.
They are about to ban motorcycling on Sundays (I think)
I have seen the police passport check dark skinned people on the train between France and Germany but not white people on several occasions.
I'm in the south west where the weather is supposedly the best in Germany. But it's still not good enough.

I do like the Nurburgring, Kraftwerk, Porsches and Pils, though.
 
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Indeed , one reason my friend is still in UK is the healthcare system here in better in some aspects namely paediatric care
 
richardg said:
I work there and see some things I don't like.

Cash is still king, why?
Entrepreneurs? It's not worth having a go due to the regulatory burdens and lack of SME / start-up incentives, so best go and get a job with a large family firm or with the government.
Customer service is poor. When things go wrong they don't seem to want to roll their sleeves up and sort it. They can't seem to believe it when the system does not work.
The accountancy sector is a protected racket, as is the notary sector.
They are generally protectionist, sell to foreigners but buy from Germans
Some people still feel obliged to pay the church tax, which is a lot.
The food is not great.
The language sounds kind of ugly.
They are about to ban motorcycling on Sundays (I think)
I have seen the police passport check dark skinned people on the train between France and Germany but not white people on several occasions.
I'm in the south west where the weather is supposedly the best in Germany. But it's still not good enough.

I do like Porsches and Pils, though.
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That cash is still king seems to me like a plus point. Cash exists to be used as such. UK habits, there is a thread running on the subject, are not the undisputed positive model.
The rest, from my limited experience, is common to most of Europe.
Regarding the church tax, sounds like a better system than all taxpayers supporting churches from the national budget, which is what most of Europe does (I think...)
Pity about the food and weather, though. "German cusine" sounds odd.
As for the police checking dark-skinned people, you'll find that everywhere, simply because 98% (just guessing) of illegals are dark-skinned.
I've never been to Germany myself, so probably don't know what I'm talking about.
 
PaulMB said:
That cash is still king seems to me like a plus point. Cash exists to be used as such. UK habits, there is a thread running on the subject, are not the undisputed positive model.
The rest, from my limited experience, is common to most of Europe.
Regarding the church tax, sounds like a better system than all taxpayers supporting churches from the national budget, which is what most of Europe does (I think...)
Pity about the food and weather, though. "German cusine" sounds odd.
As for the police checking dark-skinned people, you'll find that everywhere, simply because 98% (just guessing) of illegals are dark-skinned.
I've never been to Germany myself, so probably don't know what I'm talking about.
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I live in France, which seems a slightly more appealing place to live than UK, but is a lot more appealing than Germany.

Regarding politics, sorry I have no idea what goes on other than Merkel did nothing to encourage small business. I opened one and stopped trading with it after a year and switched to a uk one trading in Germany. Much easier and cheaper.
 
We visited Berlin a couple of years ago, loved the city, a few bits I didn’t like but generally positive. On the first night I asked the Porter in our Apart-Hotel to recommend a place for German food, he simply said ‘why?’

On a wider point, we do tend to fetishise other European countries but despite our shit Government I still think the UK is a great place to live.
 
richardg said:
They are about to ban motorcycling on Sundays (I think)
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Oh. As long as those overweight Germans on Harley Davidsons with straight through exhausts don’t come over here to Switzerland to make their noise. It’s bad enough as it is.
 
They will continue making and exporting overpriced cars and having free speed on the A-bahn. Business as usual.
 
Germany's is the largest economy in Europe, a fact that many find disturbing given its influence on EU policy. It also affects the UK, in terms of EU-UK trade agreements. So the coalition that results from these elections and the policies it adopts will, like it or not, affect the whole of Europe. Clearly every nation in the EU tries to work to its own advantage, but Germany has more weight to do it with. A similar situation to before the First and Second world wars.......
 
Based on early election results, the extremes have lost: the AfD in fourth place behind the Greens and the FDP cannot claim to be the main opposition. Brexiters and Trumpists will be unhappy with this. The far left Linke fared even worse and may not clear the 5% bar to get MPs.
All in all, a good result for those awful centrists.
EDIT: Die Linke made it after all, they will get 39 MPs (out of 735, and less than half of what the far right AfD scored).
 
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^ I am so fed up with Germany doing everything better.
Except food in restaurants...although you do get quantity.
 
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