- Germany broke all-time heat record second consecutive day.
- Industry leaders blame Deutsche Bahn for billions in losses.
- Former president urged courage for necessary political reforms.
- Munich’s Pride parade drew tens of thousands of participants.
Reported by: Nik Martin | Jon Shelton with AFP, AP, dpa, epd, Reuters
- Germany breaks all-time temperature record for second day in a row
- Politicians cannot seem to agree on reforms to nation’s retirement age
- German industry leaders blamed national rail provider DB for billions in losses
- Outgoing Federal Antisemitism Rep says quality of life for Jews in Germany has worsened
Below is the roundup of the news from Germany on Saturday, June 27.
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Huge turnout for Munich’s Pride parade
The annual Pride parade through Germany’ssouthern city of Munichdrew a crowd of tens of thousands.
More than 200 groups took part in the celebrations to promote equality for the LGBTQ+ community, under the motto “Our Diversity. Our Strength.”
Organizers are also concerned about anti-LGBTQ+ crime, which rose 43% in the state of Bavaria last year to 414 incidents, according to the campaign group Strong!
Police said around 30,000 took part in Saturday’s parade, along with around 200,000 spectators, who lined the route.
Later in the day, many people were expected to join a street festival.
In Germany, the Pride parade is known as the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade.
It takes its name from the New York street where the 1969 Stonewall uprising took place, a key moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Despite temperatures in Munich hitting 36 degrees Celsius, no major heat-related incidents were reported, organizer Conrad Breyer said.
Germany sets record temperatures for second day running
Germany broke its all-time heat record for the second straight day, with a preliminary reading of 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7 Fahrenheit), the German Weather Service (DWD) reported.
The new record was measured in the town of Möckern-Drewitz in eastern Germany.
“It can’t be ruled out that temperatures could approach 42 degrees Celsius,” the service, which issued a red alert for most of the country on Saturday, said.
The previous record was set only a day earlier, when temperatures reached 41.3 degrees Celsius in the southwestern city Saarbrücken.
The figures published by DWD are still preliminary and could be revised.
Industry leaders say Deutsche Bahn problems costing them billions in new report
Leaders and representatives from the steel, chemical and automobile industry called out Germany’s beleaguered Deutsche Bahn (DB) Saturday, saying the rail provider is costing their businesses billions as the result of ongoing track closures.
In a report published by Germany’s Welt am Sonntag (WaS) newspaper, industry reps say rotting DB infrastructure has increasingly forced them to shift transport of their goods and materials to highways over the past several years, pointing out that truck transport is far less efficient than rail.
The steel industry, which transports nearly 50% of its products and raw production materials by rail, is being especially hard hit.
A speaker from Germany’s Salzgitter steel company told the paper, “we’ve had to throttle steel production.”
And a representative at ArcelorMittal said ore reserves at the company’s Eisenhüttenstadt steel works had reached “critically low” levels.
Germany’s chemical industry, which transports some 25 million tons of products and materials via rail annually, has also been hit hard.
Wolfgang Große Entrup of the Chemical Industry Association (VCI), told WaS the Deutsche Bahn needs to “urgently adjust” its planning, coordination and prioritization,” adding, “freight transport must take precedence on detour routes” when construction is taking place.
Former president calls for more political courage in face of needed reforms
As politicians in Berlin debate serious structural reforms, Germany’s former federal president, Joachim Gauck is imploring them to put nation before party, saying citizens “expect resolve.”
“Every true reform demands sacrifices. We need political leadership that can muster the strength to explain to the public why these sacrifices must be made,” said Gauck in an interview to be published Sunday in the Welt on Sonntag (WaS) newspaper.
Gauck warned against avoiding difficult political decisions, saying doing so erodes the very “core of democracy.”
Gauck’s statement comes as politicians seem unable to agree on longterm reforms, chief among them, those revolving around retirement and pensions.
The current tug-of-war comes as the government prepares to vote on proposals put forth by a special pension commission.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas promised quick passage of the entire 33-point list of reforms earlier this week.
The fate of the legislation, however, remains unclear with voices in Merz’s conservative CDU, such as Pascal Reddig, calling for passage and quick implementation; and others in Bas’ center-left SPD, such as Manuela Schwesig and Franziska Giffey, arguing instead for slower, partial reforms.
German Weather Service forecasts more record-breaking heat for Saturday
Germany’s DWD weather service is forecasting another day of record-breaking heat.
“This Saturday temperatures of more than 36 degrees (96.8 Fahrenheit) can be expected across the country, with only some coastal regions being slightly less hot” said DWD meteorologists who warned that temperatures, “may climb as high as 42 degrees (107.6) in some places.”
On Friday, Germany registered its highest temperature ever when the mercury rose to 41.3 degrees in southwestern Saarbrücken at 5:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT).
The DWD said “tropical nights” remain in the forecast, calling the lack of cool temperatures at night especially strenuous.
Forecasters said people in Germany should expect little relief, however, with high temperatures holding until at least Monday, when thunderstorms are expected to drive temperatures down to below 30.
The DWD warned that isolated thunderstorms arriving from the west will begin Saturday evening and continue through the remainder of the weekend, adding that residents should prepare to see “the full program — from heavy rain to high winds and even hail.”
Welcome to our coverage
Guten Tag from DW in Bonn, and Mensch, ist es heiß! (Man, is it hot!) for those who are keen to flex a bit of heatwave-related German.
Today we will be following record-high temperatures across the country as Europe’s heatwave continues unabated and slowly moves eastward from France and the UK. The federal weather service has forecast thunderstorms for later in the day so there may be some relief on the horizon but they warn it will still be a while before temperatures drop.
Meanwhile as former Federal President Joachim Gauck says “the nation expects resolve,” the country’s politicians seem stuck in a tug-of-war over reforms — specifically to retirement rules — with some arguing changes are happening too fast, and others saying they are too slow.
In a weekend report in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, several heavy industry leaders bemoan billions in losses due to inefficiency at the nation’s rail carrier, Deutsche Bahn, noting that they have been forced to move much of their transport to roads due to poor logistics and slow infrastructure improvement to the rail system.
Lastly, outgoing Federal Antisemitism Representative Felix Klein expressed regret over the deteriorating quality of life experienced by Jews in Germany, noting that the conflation of Jewishness as such with Israeli politics in particular was one of several major problems facing the community.
(Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.)
