The elections in the Federal state of Hesse result in a hung parliament. None of the usual coalitions has the majority of votes. A possible coalition could be formed of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Left (Die Linke). However, the chairperson Weiterlesen…

The heads of the seven leading industrialised countries and Russia meet in Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast for the 33rd G8 economic summit. Federal Chancellor Merkel hopes to unite the international community Weiterlesen…

The bird flu reaches Germany. The obligatory confinement of poultry as well as the culling of infected birds are measures taken to prevent the virus from spreading. Tens of thousands Weiterlesen…

The most important and the most controversial part of the social reform comes into effect:  a concept bringing together the former unemployment benefits and the welfare benefits. It is known by Weiterlesen…

In Mai, the European Union undergoes its biggest expansion to date, enlarging its boundaries with the accession of new – mainly eastern European – member states. Germany’s borders Weiterlesen…

Beverage container deposit legislation is passed. In theory, the laws are easy to understand: the deposit is returned in exchange for the empty can. In practice, however, things turn out to be Weiterlesen…

On 1 January, Germany and eleven other EU-countries introduce the euro as the official currency of the European Union.

An expelled high school student commits a massacre Weiterlesen…

This is a year overshadowed by the events of 11 September. The World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. suffer devastating Weiterlesen…

Daily, new revelations about the contributions scandal of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) come to light. At the end of 1999, German ex-chancellor and former head of the CDU Helmut Kohl had been forced to admit that for years he had illegally Weiterlesen…

No sooner are the Social Democrats in power than they get into trouble. Party leader and Minister of Finances Oskar Lafontaine steps down Weiterlesen…