Good morning dear readers,
disturbing images reach us from Brazil. Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro have stormed the parliament building, the Supreme Court and the government seat Palácio do Planalto in the capital Brasília. The number of attackers was estimated at around 3,000. The police used pepper spray and stun grenades, but were initially unable to stop the supporters of the right-wing ex-head of state. The police later brought the government district back under control.
Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was not in the capital at the time of the attack. “All vandals will be found and punished,” the left-leaning president said later that evening. “We will also find out who funded it.” By decree, Lula ordered that the federal government assume responsibility for public safety in Brasília. Bolsonaro never explicitly acknowledged his electoral loss to Lula. However, he condemned the storming of the government district.
A reminder at the beginning of the year that democracy is a fragile matter that needs to be protected – not only in Brazil.
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After a good year of the traffic light coalition, there are two winners and two clear losers among the democratic German parties. The SPD and FDP lost in the polls compared to the September 21 election results, while the CDU and Greens gained.
As a result, the mood among leading Liberals and Social Democrats is about as relaxed as it is among 15-year-old dance students who can’t find a partner for the prom. Is it the pimples? Or maybe you’re not funny enough?
The proven political answer to such self-doubt: new substantive advances. The SPD leadership is now campaigning for a “comeback of infrastructure policy for the 21st century”. Planning and approval procedures for transport and energy networks would have to be accelerated, and the education and health systems would have to be modernized. It says: “Anyone who wants to expand sustainable infrastructure or make future investments in Germany shouldn’t have to wait years for it.”
Sounds good. Our number of the day fits in with this: For the past ten years, the SPD has had uninterrupted government responsibility.
In contrast, the FDP has the advantage that it has only been part of the federal government for a year. At the same time, however, there seems to be a particularly strong feeling among supporters of the Liberals that their own positions will be ruined at traffic lights. In all upcoming state elections this year, the five percent hurdle has become the main opponent of the FDP.
It was clearly the Greens who in the past year have expected the most ideological breaks from their core clientele. The keywords are arms deliveries, tank discounts, coal reactivation and even a mini nuclear power extension. Nevertheless, the party was the only traffic light partner to gain ground in the polls.
(Photo: imago images/Emmanuele Contini)
Am I wrong, or have we witnessed the emergence of a new profession in recent months – that of undiplomatic diplomats? The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany at the time, Andriy Melnyk, made the start. Even since he was promoted to Kyiv, he still rains down his Twitter rants on all real and supposed Putin understanders in the Federal Republic.
And now it is Beijing’s representative in Berlin who reacted indignantly to Germany’s plans to realign its China policy in an interview with the Handelsblatt. Ambassador Wu Ken says about the German government’s draft China strategy:
“The paper gives the impression that it is primarily guided by ideology. This smells suspiciously like a Cold War mentality to me.”
The draft that has become known so far, led by Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), advocates a tougher approach to Beijing and more economic independence from China. Wu expresses the suspicion that the German government is losing its independence and is instead following the United States when it comes to China policy: “And as is well known, they aim to suppress and contain China.”
You don’t have to take everything the ambassador says in the interview at face value, especially not about the supposedly rosy human rights situation in China. But there is one point he should make us think about: doing business with any regime while lecturing the world on the inalienability of human rights – these two sides of German action go increasingly hard together.
And then there is the Bayerischer Hof in Munich, the playground of the Bussi Society and, as the host of the Munich Security Conference, the scene of world politics once a year. However: In the Handelsblatt ranking of the 101 best hotels in Germany, the Bayerischer Hof always only ends up in the middle. It is above all the guest reviews on booking portals such as Booking.com that pull the family-run hotel legend down. What’s going on at Munich Promenadenplatz?
To check this question, our hotel tester Carsten Rath checked in at the Bayerischer Hof for a meticulous special inspection. He encountered points of criticism, some of which I would not have even noticed. For example, the doorman was missing and the bartender drank coke in front of the guests instead of leaving the bar area. In one point, however, my indignation surpasses that of our tester: he was not offered any daily newspapers for breakfast.
If the baby still had to experience Shimmerless!
Whether in the hotel or at home: I wish you a day that starts with a wonderful breakfast – including the Handelsblatt.
Best regards
your
Christian Rickens
Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
