Merz in France: Please do not take an example here – location in the morning

Good morning, dear readers,

Hardly any other should see Friedrich Merz as often these days as the French President Emmanuel Macron. The two were the day before yesterday together with the Polish counterpart in Moldova to signal support from the small republic threatened by Russia.

Yesterday, the Chancellor endured a few hours without the French president: After a short solo bricker to the Marine in Kiel, a meeting in France was on the program in the evening. In the Summer residence Brégançon the two were appointed for dinner. A great honor for the CDU man, previously only Kohl and Merkel had been there.

Despite all the differences, be it with joint armaments projects, common EU debts, the atomic: A little “Mercron” is back. What worked with Merkel now works with Merz. In between, Olaf Scholz had strained the souls of the Franco-German-moved people, the SPD Chancellor was not suspected of taking care of the relationship particularly extensively.

This Friday, “Mercron” will come together with some members of their governments on the Mediterranean coast. The joint consultations in Toulon should be concerned with security issues and economic policy.

In advance, German and French economists called for governments to drastic reforms. In view of the weak productivity growth in both countries, it was “time to act”, the “Spiegel” quotes from paper to “get into the sidelines in a changed geo -economic environment”.

For Germany, the authors, including the renowned institute directors Clemens Fuest and Moritz Schularick, recommend an increase in retirement age. Measures that increase the number of working hours should be taken in France. This is exactly what the French prime minister tries François Bayrou at the moment, he has announced, among other things, to delete two holidays.

At this point, however, the Germans should not take an example to the French: they go to the barricades and have announced large protests. Bayrou now came before this threat and wants to ask himself a question of trust in the National Assembly. It looks like that he will lose them. France stumbles from the government crisis to government crisis.

Let’s stay in France for a moment: While there is an unpleasant “helicopter nut” who is at home as a woman for the child, the matter is apparently (still) stored differently in this country. As a “raven mother”, if you want to have children and at the same time want to have a career.

Verena Hubertz, Federal Minister of Construction, is currently experiencing. The 37-year-old has made her pregnancy public and is confronted with hate. “The poor child” will probably not be seen so much from his mother, “is one of the more harmless comments.

Being a mother and filling out a challenging profession: What should be normal long ago is obviously not in Germany. The example of Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, who became a mother during her term of office, shows that there is another way.

Unlike in the case of Hubertz, the response to Ardern’s pregnancy was mostly positive, Vivian Micks writes in her comment. Ardern, who was the same as Hubertz today, was praised for her courage and her modern understanding of leadership. Well, it works.

Anyone who wanted to send money or pay for it by PayPal in this country often couldn’t do that on Wednesday. A breakdown was to blame for the online payment service provider, apparently the failure of a security check. Because there were millions of suspects, German banks made the booking of PayPal inquiries block according to the “Süddeutscher Zeitung”.

Consumer protection politicians of several parties are now calling for the establishment of European alternatives to the American provider. “The failure at PayPal makes it clear how vulnerable our payment transactions are when too few providers shape the market, “said CSU politician Susanne Hierl. Till Steffen from the Greens advised customers to actively look for alternatives. There is already a European payment system with the Wero service that is used a lot in France and Belgium, for example.

Are you satisfied with what you earn? Some people get along well with little money, others can never get enough of it. Behavioral researcher Thomas Mathar explains how we find out how much we really need.

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