Select a language
Black and yellow prospects loom large on the front page of the Tageszeitung. These are the party colours of Germany’s conservatives (CDU/CSU) and free-market liberals (FDP), respectively, who will now be running the biggest country in the EU. What with 21 conservative governments dwarfing six socialist administrations, it looks as though “the change in Berlin means a change for Europe,” bewails the Tageszeitung. First off, the domestic market: “It took a long time for us to come round to the idea that a market without borders is also a labour market in which we need minimum social standards. The minimum wage is no longer on the German government’s agenda.” (Germany does not have a minimum wage.) Alternative energy is bound to be dealt a hard blow too: “Finland, the United Kingdom and France are gearing up to build new nuclear power stations. Belgium intends to reconsider its nuclear phase-out plan. So does Germany now,” reports the Berlin daily, which envisages German free-marketeers negotiating lucrative advantages for German industry in the emissions market. Thirdly, financial market regulation: the German FDP do not appear as keen as their European counterparts on harmonising banking regulations. Only civil rights stand to gain from the new coalition: “The FDP aim to combat the mania for storing up personal information about consumers,” notes the TAZ.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
Go to the event >