German Policts

In the municipality of Ahnatal in Hesse, the mayoral election has been decided by chance. The candidates from the social democratic party SPD and Christian democratic union CDU had received the exact same number of votes. In this case, Hesse's municipal regulations provide for a decision by lot.

The candidate of the SPD, Stephan Hänes, has subsequently been drawn and won.

After warnings from the SPD, the leader of the German Green party, Robert Habeck, also warned the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt to not collaborate with the right-wing AfD in the ongoing discussion about the planned raise of the broadcast license fee.

The CDU in Saxony-Anhalt is strictly against the raise and could prevent it if they joined forces with the AfD in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt because every federal state has to approve the raise.

The German Cabinet adopted a draft law that provides for the revocation of rulings by the military courts on consensual homosexual acts. For every relocated ruling Germany will pay 3000€ to the affected soldier and the same sum will also be paid to soldiers who have been dismissed because of their sexual orientation, who have not been promoted or who have not been entrusted with responsible duties. Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had already recognized the importance of rehabilitation before the cabinet meeting and apologized to those affected.

In the ongoing discussion inside of the grand coalition about employees' right to home office, German minister of labour and social affairs, Hubertus Heil from the Social Democratic Party said that he no longer demands an enforceable right to 24 days of home office for every employee working in a position in which working from home is possible. Heil says, he tries to meet the coalition partner, the conservative Union halfway with this waiver and hopes for their support for his draft "Mobile Labour Law". The CDU/CSU rejects any legal reglementation of home office.

German politician Friedrich Merz says he now "regrets" comments made when asked whether he would have reservations if an LGBT+ chancellor were to lead Germany.

During a video interview for the Bild newspaper, Merz replied to the question with: "No. Concerning the question of sexual orientation, as long as it is within the law and does not affect children — which at this point, for me, would be an absolute limit — it is not an issue for public discussion."

Merz is the leading candidate for the position of chair of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU). Whoever is selected for the role would likely become the party's candidate to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor.

Merz' answer sparked an outcry from German politicians, especially as one of his rivals for the position of CDU chair, Health Minister Jens Spahn, is openly gay.

Another gay politician, deputy chair of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Kevin Kühnert tweeted: "This is how someone works who cannot hide the fact that he cannot deal with the normalization of homosexuality."