More Surveillance In Germany?

Snowden's revelations have shown the world that the US and British governments cannot be trusted. Additionally, it is very likely that many if not all allied intelligence services aided the NSA and GCHQ; and also used similar methods though likely on a smaller scale, which is probably much more of a funding issue than anything else. Some believed that there would be a change in thinking now. The current coalition talks in Germany show that this is the case, sadly in a very different direction than many expected.

Quotas For Women On Company Boards

Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU Union and the social democrat SPD are still working towards a coalition contract. According to Sueddeutsche, they have come closer to a agreement on quotas for women for supervisory (Aufsichtsrat) and management boards (Vorstand) of the largest German companies.

Minimum Wage In Germany

Coalition negotiations between Merkel's CDU/CSU Union and the SPD will begin shortly. One of the major issues was the minimum wage of €8.50 per hour, that the SPD wants. Many German economists fear that jobs will be lost. They are right that this might be the case in the short term but in the long run they are absolutely wrong.