this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
38 points (100.0% liked)

Europe

6326 readers
716 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
top 6 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Merz has already won backing for a €500 billion fund to upgrade Germany’s ramshackle infrastructure and removed constitutional borrowing restrictions on defense spending, paving the way for hundreds of billions more to be invested in the military.

Good

But he’s also promised to cut billions from Germany’s welfare bill and has warned voters that what he portrays as their comfortable lifestyles are going to have to change in order to meet the challenges ahead. “With a four-day week and work-life balance, we will not be able to maintain the prosperity of this country,” he said at a party meeting in May.

Oh shit

The AfD, by contrast, is telling voters that they can preserve their traditional way of life without difficult sacrifices.

Good

The party’s solution is to expel hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants and pull out of the EU, a recipe that saw the party surge close to Merz’s Christian Democrat-led alliance in recent polls.

Oh shit

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Why would "paving the way for hundreds of billions more to be invested in the military" be good? And the AfD's statements are just lies, same as Brexiteers in the UK. It's not good.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Because it will flow in the rest of the economy that's been ran on soft austerity for a long time. Into steelworkers, machinists, technology, etc. It's how the US does a lot of its public investment. It's not ideal, but it's better than not doing any significant investment. I'd prefer a different approach if given the choice but this is likely to have some positive effects on German workers.

But then they would cut supports for workers on the other end so... 🪦

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Solid response! I figured it'd be something to do with innovations or similar, but wasn't sure. Thanks 😊 and yeah, rough that ultimately they're supporting cuts.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Well, innovation comes from workers doing various types of work, so innovation might occur too. 😂

[–] kayazere 7 points 1 week ago

But he’s also promised to cut billions from Germany’s welfare bill and has warned voters that what he portrays as their comfortable lifestyles are going to have to change in order to meet the challenges ahead. “With a four-day week and work-life balance, we will not be able to maintain the prosperity of this country,” he said at a party meeting in May.

Translation: continue to fuck the working class while Merz and the rich take more for themselves.