Olaf Scholz’s annus horribilus builds macabre momentumDeep ideological differences on climate politics and economics have left German’s chancellor as a traffic officer managing too many coalition traffic jamsSat Jan 13 2024 - 06:00
EU enlargement will only succeed if national veto is dropped, says German ministerEurope minister Anna Luhrmann says reforms are needed for Ukraine and Moldova to successfully join blockFri Jan 12 2024 - 13:00
A tale of two pardons: Poland’s president Duda and PM Donald Tusk in battle of wills over reforms Convicted PiS politicians arrested at presidential palace and on hunger strike in the latest twist in country’s politicsThu Jan 11 2024 - 20:04
Former Polish minister starts hunger strike in prison after arrest in presidential palace President Andrzej Duda accuses Tusk administration of creating ‘political prisoners’ following arrest of two PiS politiciansWed Jan 10 2024 - 10:59
Germany recalibrates backing for Israel as Palestinian death toll spiralsForeign minister Annalena Baerbock reframes October 7th attack by Hamas as double-edged tragedy and the ‘start of a nightmare without end for the people in Israel and Gaza’Tue Jan 09 2024 - 17:47
‘It has been a wonderful, deepening time’: Alice Lyons on being the first recipient of the Heaney-Milosz ResidencySeamus Heaney and Czeslaw Milosz were firm friends and Nobel laureates. A writer’s residency has been established in Kraków in their memoryTue Jan 09 2024 - 05:15
Farmers protest as anger spreads at austerity born of Germany’s fiscal fetish Berlin Letter: Just over a decade ago Germany made painful austerity demands of Ireland and other crisis-hit euro neighbours. Now the decision to cut costs at home rather than borrow for investment is proving highly contentiousTue Jan 09 2024 - 05:00
Wolfgang Schäuble’s achievements and ambivalent fiscal legacy remembered Former finance minister has died aged 81, while his austerity politics dominates headlines and political agendaFri Jan 05 2024 - 17:39
Olaf Scholz walking a fine line as Germany’s politics fragment German chancellor likes to invoke Liverpool club anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone, but his coalition is fast losing supportersThu Jan 04 2024 - 16:46
After eight years of culture wars in Poland, 2024 has begun with more of the sameDonald Tusk hailed his October election victory as a 'civic awakening', and vowed 'not to stop' until he had repaired deep divisions in Polish societyTue Jan 02 2024 - 18:24
Edvard Munch’s artistic outlook: ‘There should be pictures of real people who breathed, who suffered, felt, loved’Berlin’s state gallery has pulled out all the stops for the city’s first Munch exhibition in 30 yearsTue Jan 02 2024 - 05:00
A snapshot of house prices in five cities around the world and how they compare to IrelandTight supply and a shortage of affordable housing are common themes despite recent cooling of prices in several marketsThu Dec 28 2023 - 06:01
Best of five: A glimpse at rental prices in cities around the worldFive Irish Times foreign correspondents looked at rental prices and issues in their city, to get a snapshot of whether the rental crisis in Dublin is also experienced in other parts of the worldWed Dec 27 2023 - 06:01
Tusk government moves to depoliticise Poland’s public institutionsSupervisory boards of TVP public television, Polish Radio and the Polish Press Agency fired to ‘restore the impartiality and credibility of public media’Wed Dec 20 2023 - 18:44
AfD gets first mayorship in eastern city of PirnaVictory comes just days after intelligence agency in the state of Saxony declared the local AfD to be an extremist organisationMon Dec 18 2023 - 19:57
Gaza Nazi comparisons heat up Berlin dinner-party talkMasha Gessen essay fuels debates about German sensitivities and Israeli policyMon Dec 18 2023 - 15:17
Donald Tusk’s administration faces new wave of Polish culture warsEven with the handover of power to a pro-EU coalition, patriotic-nationalist narratives promoted by the conservative Law and Justice party have taken rootFri Dec 15 2023 - 18:28
German coalition strikes deal to fill €17bn budget holeArrangement that will see cuts to green investment follows weeks of political upheavalWed Dec 13 2023 - 18:39
Donald Tusk promises to restore Poland to ‘its rightful place’ New prime minister signals warmer relationship with European Union and ‘full mobilisation’ for UkraineTue Dec 12 2023 - 16:41
Warsaw cinema screens real-life political drama as Tusk replaces MorawieckiLivestream of events in parliament delivers a happy ending for young crowdMon Dec 11 2023 - 21:42
Donald Tusk nominated as Polish PM with pledge of ‘historic change’ National conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party loses confidence vote and cedes eight years in powerMon Dec 11 2023 - 20:29
Olaf Scholz: ‘There will be no dismantling of the welfare state in Germany’German leader attracts cheers at Social Democratic Party conference amid three-week budget deadlockSun Dec 10 2023 - 16:00
Culture connection: Irish arts events to build bridges with Germany and update imageZeitgeist Irland 24 programme will feature more than 200 events of concerts, exhibitions and playsSun Dec 10 2023 - 14:09
New Tusk term brings unprecedented political challengesIn advance of next week’s swearing-in, Poland’s next prime minister has promised to ‘rebuild my country’s position in Europe’ – and unlock billions in funding frozen by the EUFri Dec 08 2023 - 18:20
Germany’s Jews report rise in anti-Semitic violence since Hamas attackGermany’s leading Jewish group claims one in three communities have experienced hostility since militant group’s assault on Israel on October 7thThu Dec 07 2023 - 19:35
Breaking a Berlin social taboo, I spoke to a stranger in a cafeThe sighs from the next table were too loud to ignore. It was his property tax statementTue Dec 05 2023 - 06:00
Climate challenges force Scholz to tackle German golden calfFixing creaking infrastructure while meeting ambitious green goals – and all without new borrowing – is the challenge facing the cranky three-way coalitionFri Dec 01 2023 - 16:26
Fall of former Brown Thomas and Arnotts owner continues with self-administration moveSigna collapse leaves line of creditors and unfinished buildings in its wakeFri Dec 01 2023 - 15:09
Germany musician admits inventing anti-Semitism claimsGil Ofarim posted a video to Instagram in October 2021 claiming had been the target of abuse at a Leipzig hotel because he is JewishTue Nov 28 2023 - 17:58
Scholz admits his government faces painful financial choices over €60bn hole in budgetOpposition leader Friedrich Merz says crisis was caused by Scholz coalition trying to ‘square the circle’ of contradictory prioritiesTue Nov 28 2023 - 17:19
Ukraine calls on EU to pressure Poland to end border blockadeFarmers are demanding Polish government compensate them for influx of Ukrainian grainMon Nov 27 2023 - 16:27
Lankum cancellation in Leipzig highlights German minefield on IsraelCancellation of concert by contemporary Irish folk band known for pro-Palestinian stance adds to growing body of performances and talks axed ‘due to current events’Sat Nov 25 2023 - 06:00
Germany’s obsession with debt threatens to paralyse its economyConstitutional court ruling leaves the country’s federal budget in disarray and threatens investment in climate transition projects, rail system upgrades and Intel factoryFri Nov 24 2023 - 05:00
German coalition under pressure as court ruling blocks access to €60bn left in pandemic-era fundMove by Berlin to repurpose emergency funds ruled unconstitutionalTue Nov 21 2023 - 18:30
Head of Germany’s Lutheran church resigns in protest over claims she failed to act on abuseResignation of Annette Kurschus rocks Germany’s mainstream Protestant church as study confirms membership collapseTue Nov 21 2023 - 17:18
Germany, a country that is now less ‘ahead through engineering’ than behind through bureaucracyWhen everyone and no one is responsible for digitalisation, the results are no surprise: a 2023 digital competence indexTue Nov 21 2023 - 06:00
‘Empathy’ key in Germany’s link to Israel, says former ambassador to Ireland Moral and historical factors shape Berlin’s attitude to complex situation around GazaSat Nov 18 2023 - 11:12
Erdogan can expect cold welcome on his arrival in Berlin for three-day state visitThe Turkish leader has plunged Turkish-German bilateral relations into new crisis over recent remarks on the Middle East crisisThu Nov 16 2023 - 21:00
Germany carries out dawn raids against alleged Islamist extremist groupsOperation sees 54 buildings in seven federal states raided early on ThursdayThu Nov 16 2023 - 10:26
Fear and fury as German Jews debate October 7th response Jewish community in Germany remain on high alert despite practical support from the state and political establishmentWed Nov 15 2023 - 17:38
Germany’s struggles to balance freedom of expression rights with moral obligation to IsraelBerlin Letter: The conflict in Gaza has led both to a rise in anti-Semitism and accusations of excessive crackdowns on expressions of support for PalestineTue Nov 14 2023 - 06:00
Centre for Irish studies opens at Flensburg university in GermanyNew centre fits into Ireland’s post-Brexit plan to widen and deepen its footprint in GermanyMon Nov 13 2023 - 04:00
New Polish prime minister without mandate struggles to find oneOpposition coalition waits for opportunity to implement its newly agreed programmeSun Nov 12 2023 - 18:38
German Marxist has big plans for a new party, but faces accusations of a drift to far-right populismSahra Wagenknecht is criticised by mainstream German politicians as being a Russian stoogeFri Nov 10 2023 - 15:12
Scholz marks pogrom anniversary by expressing ‘shame’ at anti-Semitic attacksGerman chancellor says ‘something is again coming apart at the seams’ if synagogues in Germany once again being firebombedThu Nov 09 2023 - 18:57
Centenary of Hitler putsch casts uncomfortable shadow on pogrom anniversaryHistorians are unsettled about how the focus on the dictator detracts from a wider picture, one that is becoming apparent again nowThu Nov 09 2023 - 05:00
Germany agrees tighter migration rules to throttle arrival numbersScholz pivots towards more restrictive migration policy promising ‘humanity and order’ as 70% spike in arrivals triggers public unrest and regional political revoltTue Nov 07 2023 - 18:03
Hamas attacks have reopened Germany’s Muslim integration debate As Berlin’s best-known liberal mosque closes due to threats, anger is growing that Hamburg’s so-called Blue Mosque remains openSat Nov 04 2023 - 06:00
New therapy ‘highly effective’ in patients with ovarian cancer, says BioNTechGerman pharmaceutical company shot to fame as first company to produce a next-generation mRNA vaccine to treat Covid-19Tue Oct 31 2023 - 06:00
‘A snoring is heard every night... at the hour at which he passed away’Ghost stories from 1913 make for a fascinating psychogram of Irish middle-class anxietiesMon Oct 30 2023 - 19:37
