News of the week - German government budget ("Bundeshaushalt")

Last Wednesday, the German government (Bundesregierung) decided on the size and the division of their first budget. In the diagram, you can see how the budget of 261,7 Billion Euro has been divided over the ministries (Source of data: RP Online)

One note to the diagram: you might be surprised about the relatively low budget for education and research. Reason for this, is that responsibility for education is delegated to the individual states in Germany. In total, around 96 Billion Euro is spent on education in Germany.

With the 2006 budget, at least 3 rules will be broken:

1. Also this year, the German new deficit exceeds the 3% limit (Maastricht) to 3,3% of GDP. This is the fifth year in a row.
2. Another European rule which will be broken again this year, is the limit of 60% of GDP for the total deficit of a country. This year, Germany will reach a deficit of 1.450 Billion, 69% of GDP (2.100 Billion).
3. And the third is the German constitution, acoording to which new credits cannot supersede investments. This year, the credits amount to 38,3 Billion and investments only 23,2 Billion

Reducing credits is a top priority for the new government. And looking at the budget, it is clear that the biggest problem lies in the field of employment and pensions. Reducing the unemployment rate and changing the pension system into an affordable one, are key success factors on the way to a balanced budget. This is the biggest challenge for the coming decade.

My Bookmarks

You might have noticed the addition of the category "del.icio.us bookmarks" in the side bar. Here you can find a dynamically updated list of my recent bookmars on del.icio.us.

News of the week - Bird flu

Germany is in turmoil at the moment, because of the increasing cases of bird flu (the H5N1 virus). Even CNN reports about it today, stating that in total, 103 cases of the disease have been detected in wild birds so far:

“A lab has confirmed the detection of more bird flu in Germany with the discovery of 22 new cases on the island of Ruegen, according to The Associated Press.
The report brings the country's total cases of the H5N1 virus found in wild birds to 103, AP said.
Troops and army veterinarians have been sent to Ruegen to help local authorities deal with the latest outbreak within the European Union.”

The first cases were found on the north sea island Ruegen. Everything is tried at the moment to avoid the virus from spreading. But so far, with little success. Complicating factor is migration of birds, which has already started again.

Preparations are being taken throughout German society, and the consequences are even noticable in my direct surroundings. One of my team co-workers is active in the fire department. He told me yesterday that in case the virus keeps spreading, they will have to start setting up the local organisation for dealing with the bird flu. In Germany, the fire department is responsible for local coordination of activities in cases of epidemics.

Will the recent global problems with animal diseases result in a change in the way we treat the animals we use for consumption? I sincerely hope so.

News of the week

As this weblog is becoming more and more a collection of my views on several aspects of German culture and society, I figured that the occurrences and events that move people the most, should not be omitted.
Therefore, I am going to including a new item into this weblog. I will call it "News of the week". Hope you like it.

How to manage my contacts?

Already for a while now, I find that everytime I want to send an email or a postcard to somebody, or when I want to give someone a call, I have hundreds of addresses and phone numbers with me, but not the one I need.

I am looking for a good online tool to manage my contacts with, so I have them with me wherever I am. I am trying plaxo at the moment, but I am not sure whether this is the ultimate tool.

Any suggestions anyone?

Greetings

So how do Germans greet each other, and how do they say goodbye? If you would have asked me this question six years ago, I would have probably answered "the same as in the Netherlands, I guess". It was only after I went to Germany regularly that I noticed it is not quite like that.

Dutch greet each other by saying "Hi", shaking hands, or with three kisses on the cheeks, depending on the occasion and the persons greeting each other.

Assuming that Germany and the Netherlands would probably be the same, I used the same habit in Germany as back home. Quickly, I noticed that three kisses when greeting ladies is definitely not the right thing to do. So, I tried two, and then one. In the end, it became clear to me that I'd better forget about the kissing. That was better. But not perfect yet. The proper way to greet your lady friends in Germany is with a tender hug.

Hugging women is something I don't mind doing of course. Hugging men was something else, though. So when I realised that men also hug (just like Americans .... in fact, there are many similarities between American and German culture, but that's something for a later post) , it took me a while to get used to it. Luckily, the hugging between men is only done at special occasions. Usually, shaking hands is the thing to do.

A very typical place to shake hands is in the company. I shake dozens of hands every day. Not because I am so popular or important, but because colleagues shake hands every day.
Back home, we say "Hi" apon entering the office. It's simple, quick, and clean. Getting to my desk in the company here in Germany takes a while longer, because every colleague is greeted with a hand shake. Also this was a habit I had to get used to. But in the meantime I developed a positive feeling about i. It's a bit more personal than "Hi", even though it takes a while longer.

Only in cases of a cold or illness, the hugs and hand shakes are omited and the affection kept for better times . Because even though greeting rituals are nice and important, as almost everything else in Germany, it is used with sensibility.

Get-together etiquettes

I think we did well today. We were invited to a birthday party of friends, which would start at three in the afternoon. Along with the invitation came the remark: "for coffee and cake". Here in Germany this means: "There's no food, so the party ends at six."

Get together etiquettes are different in every country. So, there are differences between Germany and the Netherlands as well. And in the past three years, I got myself into several uncomfortable situations: showing up at a bbq party when almost all food had been eaten already, throwing a party without organising much food during which most guests were starving, visiting friends in the evening after dinner finding the friends' dinner table filled with food, paying for a round of drinks and finding out that instead of rewarding eyes disturbed faces were looking into my direction, etc.

But with some help of Shiqi and some feedback of my German friends, I think I have found out the most important etiquettes for a successful get-together:

-Be punctual when invited at a particular time, especially if the get-together involves eating ... and don't be surprised if the guests to your party show up five minutes early, so be at home on time.
-An appointment at around three in the afternoon means: coffee and cake. No food (although the amount of cake you'll eat is most likely more than enough to get you through the rest of the day). You will most likely be invited to sit down at a fully prepared dinner table.
-An appointment in the evening always includes food, unless explicitly stated that only drinks are served.
-Even though Germany has the reputation of a coffee drinking nation, a cup of coffee after dinner is not often drunk.
-Germans usually pay separately when going out with a group. So be careful with paying for a round of drinks ... your example might not be followed by your fellow drinkers.
-A brunch appointment in the weekend is very popular in Germany. And as Germans usually get up very early, brunch can be as early as ten in the morning ... don't oversleep.
-For some reason, Germans often drink only water, when invited at someone's home. I still haven't figured out whether there is some etiquette I missed, explaining this, for a Dutch, odd behaviour.
-When invited to someone's home, bringing a small gift for the hosts will be appreciated ... like anywhere else in the world, actually.
-I should actually write a separate post on greetings and saying goodbye. In general I can say that friends (men and women)usually greet each other and say goodbye with a short hug. For the Dutch readers: three kisses on the cheeks is not done. Just shake hands, if you feel uncomfortable about the hugging.

I hope, I have adopted the most important rules of behaviour, and that I will not be regarded as a bad mannered Dutch, by my German friends. No doubt, there are still some etiquettes that I am not aware of. So, an update to this post can be expected.