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.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Flatlining”
Turkey’s president refuses to let sleeping dogs lie
Stray dogs are being rounded up
The siesta is still a serious business in Europe’s south
It should be copied more widely
Russia’s bloody summer offensive is hurting Ukraine
Kremlin troops are making gains in the Donbas region
How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?
Too few to beat Russia’s air force, but a strong symbolic start
Some Germans think the hostage exchange with Russia was a dirty deal
But preserving good relations with America was more important
The deal that freed Evan Gershkovich was more than a prisoner swap
It freed Russian prisoners of conscience as well as Westerners taken hostage by Vladimir Putin