In an interview with the the newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine” on April 27, 2026, German entrepreneur Wolfgang Reitzle takes stock of Germany as a business location. To meet Germany’s electricity needs more affordably, Reitzle proposes a 50:50 mix of renewables and nuclear power. Until new nuclear power plants are built, natural gas power plants should be…
“And then we must also acknowledge that a significant proportion of this violence originates from immigrant communities in the Federal Republic of Germany.” On 25 March 2026, the German Bundestag debated the issue of violence against women in the wake of a high-profile case of sexual violence against the actress Collien Fernandes. Chancellor Friedrich Merz…
On February 12, 2026, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, spoke at the press conference following the EU Leaders Retreat at Alden Castle in Biesen, Belgium. She said: “The emission trading system has clear benefits. It has been introduced in 2005 and since then the emissions have gone down by 39%. The…
On February 6, 2026, the European Commission issued a press release regarding TikTok’s allegedly addictive design. The release quotes Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy: “Social media addiction can have detrimental effects on the developing minds of children and teens. The Digital Services Act makes platforms responsible for the effects…
On 5 March 2026, Roxana Mînzatu, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, made the following statement during a European Commission press conference: “Closing the gender gap in employment could mean an extra 10% in EU GDP per capita and creating more than 10 million jobs…
On 15 April 2026, Péter Magyar made an appearance on the Hungarian state channel M1, where he criticised the country’s media landscape and accused the government of overspending on propaganda. The claim is impossible to verify, but likely overstated. Péter Magyar is the leader of the Tisza Party, who also became Hungary’s new prime minister…
According to the annually published World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the state of global press freedom is worse than at any point in the index’s 25-year history. More than half of the world’s countries are now classified as “difficult” or “very serious” for press freedom. Several European countries, including Germany, have…
In a speech released by the United Nations, the Secretary-General António Guterres made a mostly false statement on May 3, 2026, for Press Freedom Day. “Eighty-five percent of the crimes committed against journalists go uninvestigated and unpunished: an unacceptable level of impunity,” he stated. Why is the percentage of crimes against journalists difficult to measure?…
When I packed my bags for my Erasmus+ semester in Wilhelmshaven, I expected to explore German culture, and meet people from across Europe. I did not expect to find myself in a high-stakes, fast-paced journalism newsroom, debating the legal definitions of “crime” versus “killing” with a team of media professionals. As a tourism management student,…
Reporters Without Borders published the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, which demonstrates that while Western European countries hold high positions in press freedom, Russia and Belarus rank among the lowest globally. In its research, RSF stated that in these two countries, the authorities use anti-terrorism and anti-extremism laws to prosecute both domestic and international journalists…