Friday, July 17, 2026 · 02:49 CEST · Berlin

The New German

Tag: Work

  • Germany Cuts Red Tape: E-Car Sticker Gone, Jobcenter Easier

    Germany Cuts Red Tape: E-Car Sticker Gone, Jobcenter Easier

    Germany’s government agreed a new round of bureaucracy cuts on July 15, 2026, at a second meeting of the so-called “Entlastungskabinett” (“relief cabinet”). Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger said the changes should save businesses and citizens around 600 million euros a year, adding: “This government keeps its word on cutting bureaucracy.”

    In the health system, the government is digitizing the last analog referral process: doctor referrals will now be handled electronically. It is also further developing the electronic patient file (elektronische Patientenakte) and removing barriers to hospitals using modern cloud infrastructure.

    At the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), unemployed people will be able to make binding agreements with their Jobcenter by email, and complete mandatory appointments by video call instead of showing up in person.

    Two long-criticized rules are also being scrapped. Owners of electric cars will no longer need to apply for the green environmental sticker (Umweltplakette) that allows vehicles to drive in cities’ low-emission zones, even though EVs produce no local emissions. And the mandatory regular safety check on electrical devices — until now required every two years in offices and every year in workshops, covering everything “from the coffee machine to large installations” — will only apply where there is an actual safety risk.

    Industry groups welcomed the steps but want faster progress. Holger Schwannecke of the ZDH craft trade association called the record for craft businesses “sobering” so far, and Bitkom president Ralf Wintergerst said many announced measures still need to be fully carried out.

    What this means for you: If you drive an electric car in Germany, you should no longer need to apply for or display an environmental sticker to enter a city’s low-emission zone. And if you’re registered as unemployed with the Jobcenter, you may now be able to handle required appointments and agreements by email or video call instead of going in person.

  • Germany to Cut Child Maintenance Advance at Age 16, Coalition Partners Push Back

    Germany to Cut Child Maintenance Advance at Age 16, Coalition Partners Push Back

    Germany’s Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) plans to cut the state child maintenance advance (Unterhaltsvorschuss), the payment that steps in when a separated parent fails to pay child support. Under her proposal, the state would stop paying once a child turns 16, two years earlier than the current cut-off of 18. The plan has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and open resistance from the CDU’s own coalition partner, the SPD.

    The Unterhaltsvorschuss cut at a glance

    • What changes: Payments would stop at a child’s 16th birthday instead of the 18th.
    • Who is affected: The Family Ministry estimates around 80,000 children.
    • Money at stake: Families could lose up to €394 a month per child aged 16 to 18, according to the association for single parents.
    • Why it’s happening: Costs have quadrupled since a 2017 reform extended payments to age 18, and states and municipalities want relief.
    • Status: No bill has been introduced yet; the ministry says a draft is coming soon, but the SPD says it will demand changes.

    What is the Unterhaltsvorschuss?

    The Unterhaltsvorschuss is a state advance payment for single parents whose ex-partner pays no child support, or not enough. The state pays the money to the parent raising the child, then tries to recover it from the parent who owes it. A 2017 reform extended eligibility from age 12 up to a child’s 18th birthday. Since then, according to the report, the cost of the programme to the state has quadrupled, prompting states (Länder) and municipalities to push for cuts.

    What the ministry is proposing

    A spokesperson for the Family Ministry, Dominik Lenz, confirmed that Minister Prien intends to bring forward a bill “very soon” that would end payments at a child’s 16th birthday rather than the 18th. The ministry estimates that about 80,000 children would ultimately be affected by the change. At the same time, the ministry wants to increase pressure on parents who fail to pay child support: Lenz said the ministry is considering a temporary driving ban (Fahrverbot) for parents who repeatedly fall behind on payments.

    Criticism from opposition and single-parent groups

    The plan has drawn some of the sharpest criticism the ministry has faced this year. At a press conference in Berlin, Left Party co-chair Ines Schwerdtner accused the minister of losing touch with reality, calling the planned cuts a “horror message” for single parents and their children. She argued that nearly half of all single parents in Germany are at risk of poverty and said they should not be asked to plug budget gaps that, in her view, should instead be closed by taxing billionaires more fairly.

    Green Party co-leader Franziska Brantner said the government appeared to be balancing its budget “on the backs” of families and single parents, instead of closing inheritance tax loopholes.

    Daniela Jaspers, chair of the Association of Single Mothers and Fathers (Verband alleinerziehender Mütter und Väter), told public broadcaster MDR that “the ones who suffer are the children,” who would no longer receive the support they are entitled to. She calculated that families could lose up to €394 a month for children aged 16 to 18.

    Resistance inside the coalition

    Opposition to the plan is not limited to opposition parties. Within the SPD, the CDU’s coalition partner, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s state premier Manuela Schwesig has rejected the proposal. Truels Reichardt, the SPD Bundestag faction’s spokesperson on children’s issues, also spoke out against it, saying the party would need to “rework” any bill once it reaches parliament. That leaves it open whether the reform will pass in the form the Family Ministry currently plans.

    What it means for people living in Germany

    If you are a single parent in Germany relying on Unterhaltsvorschuss, or expect to need it, this proposal is still a draft, not law. No bill has been formally introduced yet, and the SPD has already signalled it wants changes before any vote. If you currently receive the advance for a teenager, keep an eye on news from the Family Ministry over the coming months, and check with your local youth welfare office (Jugendamt), which administers the payments, for updates once the bill is published.

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  • EU Court: Streaming Subscriptions Like Netflix and Sky Must Allow 14-Day Cancellation

    EU Court: Streaming Subscriptions Like Netflix and Sky Must Allow 14-Day Cancellation

    Sign up for a streaming subscription in Germany and change your mind? From now on, you have the right to cancel within 14 days — even if the provider’s terms say otherwise. The European Court of Justice (EuGH) has ruled that services like Netflix, Apple TV, MagentaTV and Sky cannot exclude the standard EU right of withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht) for online purchases. There’s a catch, though: cancelling doesn’t automatically mean the streaming was free.

    The ruling at a glance

    • Who ruled: The European Court of Justice (EuGH), case C-234/25.
    • What changed: Streaming services that continually adapt their offering and give customers individual recommendations can no longer exclude the 14-day right of withdrawal.
    • Who’s affected: Services named in the ruling’s context include Netflix, Apple TV, MagentaTV and Sky.
    • The catch: Providers can still demand compensation for the time or content you actually used before cancelling.
    • Date: Reported 9 July 2026.

    The EU’s 14-day right of withdrawal

    Under EU law, anyone who buys something online almost always has 14 days to withdraw from the purchase (Widerrufsrecht) — a cooling-off period meant to protect consumers who can’t inspect a product in person before buying. Order a T-shirt online, for example, and you have 14 days after delivery to try it on and send it back for a refund if it doesn’t work out.

    There are exceptions. Opened hygiene products can’t be returned, for instance. Streaming services had also, until now, generally excluded the right of withdrawal: customers had to explicitly agree to waive it when signing up. The reasoning was straightforward — providers didn’t want customers streaming everything they were interested in for 14 days and then cancelling for a full refund.

    Why consumer advocates pushed back

    Consumer protection groups had criticised the practice. Felix Methmann of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, vzbv) argued that without a right of withdrawal, customers had no way to test whether a subscription actually suited them — a disadvantage for consumers.

    The ECJ agreed. Judges ruled that streaming services which continually adapt their catalogue and make individual recommendations to each customer cannot exclude the right of withdrawal. Hartmut Ost, a press officer at the ECJ, summarised the judgment: customers now have 14 days to check whether a subscription meets their expectations. If a customer withdraws, they must pay the provider “reasonable compensation” (angemessene Entschädigung) for the period of use.

    The catch: streaming isn’t free until you cancel

    The good news is clear: streaming subscriptions can now be withdrawn up to 14 days after booking. The bad news is that watching in the meantime isn’t necessarily free. The ECJ clarified that providers can charge compensation for use up to the point of withdrawal, calculated in one of two ways.

    • Proportionally, based on how many days of the subscription period were actually used.
    • Based on the market value of the content actually watched — essentially, what a film or series would have cost to watch individually, without a subscription.

    That second option means costs could add up quickly for anyone who streamed a major sporting event or a newly released series highlight before cancelling.

    What it means for people living in Germany

    If you’ve recently moved to Germany and signed up for a streaming service to catch up on German-language shows or watch news in your own language, you now have a genuine 14-day window to cancel if the service isn’t what you expected — regardless of what the terms and conditions say about waiving your rights.

    • Keep the confirmation email or booking date — the 14 days run from when you subscribed.
    • If you cancel, expect an invoice for the days used or the value of what you watched, not necessarily a full refund.
    • Watching sparingly in the first two weeks — rather than binge-watching everything — limits what a provider can charge if you do decide to cancel.
    • [VERIFY: how to formally exercise the right of withdrawal with individual providers such as Netflix, Apple TV, MagentaTV or Sky, and whether they have updated their terms since the ruling]

    Reporting based on tagesschau.de, “Europäischer Gerichtshof: Widerrufsrecht gilt auch für Streaming-Abos”, 9 July 2026 (case EuGH C-234/25).

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