Germany news: Merz and ministers retreat and regroup

The Dresden Higher Regional Court has delivered a guilty verdict in the trial of a former aide to far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Maximilian Krah over alleged espionage for China.

The court found that Jian G., a German national, passed on confidential documents and other information from his time in Krah’s European Parliament office. He also collected data on AfD leaders and monitored Chinese dissidents.

The court jailed G. for four years and nine months. 
Read more about the verdict here.

Almost five months after being sworn in, the conservative-Social Democrat federal cabinet is holding its first retreat, hoping to rebuild team spirit after a rocky start.

The two-day meeting at Villa Borsig on Lake Tegel in northwest Berlin is set to focus mainly on cutting bureaucracy and improving the competitiveness of the German economy.

“Companies are in some cases backed up against the wall or standing with one foot over the edge. That’s why we have to deliver results quickly here,” conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged before the start of the retreat.

After only a short time in office, satisfaction with the ruling coalition of the center-right CDU/CSU bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) has fallen to a record low.

On Wednesday, the government plans to adopt a modernization agenda for state and administration that would cut bureaucracy costs by 25%, or €16 billion (nearly $19 billion), partly by reducing federal staff levels by 8%.

The previous “traffic-light” coalition had held its cabinet retreats at Meseberg Palace, 70 kilometers north of Berlin. There, the center-left Social Democrat, Green and business-focused Free Democrats repeatedly pledged to quarrel less — only for disputes to resume soon after.

Unlike in Meseberg, Merz and his 17 ministers will not stay overnight on the premises. Still, a social element is planned: after the day’s program ends, they will share a dinner together.

Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn.

You join us as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his cabinet — a coalition of his conservative CDU and the center-left SPD — head off for a two-day retreat. The aim? To patch things up and rebuild some team spirit after a shaky start.

The two-day get-together is taking place at Villa Borsig, a stately house on Lake Tegel in northwest Berlin.

The main focus is on trimming Germany’s famously heavy bureaucracy and finding ways to make the economy more competitive.

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