European Economics > Unemployment hits ten-year high in Germany; France consigning next generation to a lifetime of debt

 

German unemployment hits ten-year high

The country’s economy is facing a third consecutive year without growth

© Getty Images / skynesher

Unemployment in Germany has risen to its highest level in a decade, official figures released on Friday show. The labor report comes as the country’s faltering economy risks contracting for a third consecutive year.

The figures show the number of unemployed individuals topping 3 million in August for the first time since 2015. The month-on-month increase came in at 46,000 to put the tally at 3.02 million in seasonally unadjusted terms, or 6.4% of the population.

Federal Employment Agency chief Andrea Nahles blamed the labor market struggles on Germany’s weak economy. The EU’s largest economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024 after contracting by 0.3% in 2023. This year, following a 0.3% expansion in the first quarter, output fell by 0.3% in Q2 as uncertainty grew over new US tariffs. The International Monetary Fund recently warned that Germany could face a third consecutive year without growth.

Germany’s economic downturn has coincided with Berlin’s decision to halt imports of low-cost Russian energy, which was vital for its industry. European gas prices rose sharply after Russian pipeline deliveries largely stopped and the Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged later that year. Before the sanctions, Germany sourced 55% of its gas from Russia, but has since shifted to pricier liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the US and Qatar.

READ MORE: EU sanctions against Russia don’t work – Bild

Moscow has denounced the Western sanctions as illegal and ineffective, arguing they have instead backfired on the countries that imposed them.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated last week that Germany is facing a “structural crisis” rather than temporary “weakness,” and said steering the economy toward growth has proven more difficult than expected. Key industries such as the automotive segment are “no longer truly competitive,” he added.

The country’s automotive sector has shed more than 51,000 jobs just in the past year alone, according to recent data.

============================================================================================

French PM admits debt will devastate next generation

Paris has spiraled into uncontrolled borrowing for the comfort of “boomers,” Francois Bayrou has said

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in Paris, France, August 28, 2025. © Getty Images / Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto

France has saddled the younger generations with debts they’ll be paying off their entire lives, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has said. Paris continuously borrows in the interest of “boomers” and “certain political parties,” he added.

On Monday, Bayrou said he urged President Emmanuel Macron to reconvene parliament by September 8 for a confidence vote to gauge support for his €43.8 billion ($50.9 billion) austerity measures plan. The prime minister has long sounded the alarm over the country’s spiraling budget deficit, which hit 5.8% of GDP last year – almost double the EU 3% ceiling.

The primary victims of the government debt will be the “youngest French people,” Bayrou said in an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday.

“They’re the victims; they’re the ones who will have to pay the debt for the rest of their lives,” he said, adding that Paris is trying to convince them that more borrowing is needed.

READ MORE: French debt ballooning by €5,000 a second – PM

“All this for the comfort of certain political parties and for the comfort of the so-called boomers.”

His proposals to battle France’s $3.98 billion government debt have included scrapping public holidays, slashing public sector jobs, as well as welfare and pensions cuts. The program has been criticized by left-wing parties, who have accused Paris of prioritizing military spending over social welfare.

Macron has promised to increase France’s military budget to €64 billion by 2027, citing external threats. Paris has warned of a potential war scenario within the next five years, naming Russia as one of the principal threats – claims which Moscow has dismissed.

READ MORE: Macron wants ‘boots on the ground’ in Ukraine

Bayrou’s proposed budget has not been well received by the French public, polls suggest. While most French people agree with the prime minister’s alarmism about the national debt, 76% believe his budget will not help, and 82% see it as socially unfair, according to an Elabe survey from Tuesday.

Around 81% want a new prime minister to be elected, and 67% called for Macron’s resignation, according to Elabe’s poll. Nearly three-quarters say they want Bayrou to fail in the vote on September 8, which is to be his ninth no-confidence motion.

========================================================================

Military Madness > Chemical Weapons Threat; $768 Billion Defense Budget; Israel Can Strike Iran w/o USA Approval

..

Pentagon responds to Russian 'chemical weapon' warning

22 Dec, 2021 15:23

FILE PHOTO. The Pentagon building. © Getty Images / U.S. Air Force

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s claim that US private military companies (PMCs) are planning to stage a provocation in eastern Ukraine using chemical weapons is incorrect, the Pentagon has insisted.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, US Department of Defense press secretary John Kirby completely denied all suggestions of any American plans to stage an incident.

“Those statements by Minister Shoigu are completely false… they’re false,” Kirby said, in response to a question from a reporter.

Earlier on Tuesday, at a meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry board attended by President Vladimir Putin, Shoygu claimed that 120 employees of American PMCs have been placed in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

“They are setting up firing positions in residential buildings and socially important facilities and are training Ukrainian special operations forces and radical armed groups for active combat operations,” Shoygu claimed. “To carry out provocations, tanks with unspecified chemical components have been delivered to the towns of Avdeevka and Krasnyi Lyman.”

Sounds like defensive positioning to me, pfft!

The minister provided no further details or evidence to back up the claim.

Tensions have been mounting in eastern Ukraine since last month when several Western media outlets reported that Russia had been massing troops near the border and claimed that Moscow was planning a large-scale military invasion of the country. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to invade and has called for a diplomatic solution.

Also on Tuesday, during the same board meeting, Putin said that tensions in Europe were the fault of the US. According to the president, the deployment of American missiles, as well as large-scale exercises near the country’s borders, are causing concern for Moscow.

Biden signs $768bn military spending bill

The US administration devotes $300 million in security aid to Ukraine amid mounting tensions with Russia

FILE PHOTO: US Navy aircraft carriers during training in the Sea of Japan/the East Sea, June 1, 2017. ©  Reuters / MC 2nd Class Z.A. Landers / US Navy handout

US President Joe Biden has signed into law a $768 billion defense package. It represents an overall increase in military spending and includes $300 million to be set aside for security initiatives related to Moscow and Beijing.

Biden signed the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday, marking a $25 billion increase on his original proposal and authorizing a 5% boost in US military spending from 2021. 

The vast spending package includes $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which, according to supporters in the Senate, will be used to train and equip Ukrainian forces to defend against alleged “Russian aggression.” Another $150 million was earmarked for “Baltic security cooperation” – another project aimed at deterring Moscow – while a larger sum of $4 billion will be spent on the European Defense Initiative, which is intended to bolster Washington’s NATO allies.

The aid package to Ukraine comes as Washington and several other Western nations accuse Russia of amassing forces along its border with Ukraine. At the weekend, US Vice President Kamala Harris threatened “sanctions like you’ve not seen before,” should Russia make a move against its neighbor. Though Moscow insists it has no interest in an invasion, it has warned against further NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, deeming the issue a matter of “life and death” for Russia. It also denounced Western involvement in Ukraine, where the US supported the 2014 ‘Euromaidan’ coup.

In line with the Biden administration’s growing military focus on China, the new NDAA also includes a $7.4 billion allocation to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and a statement of support for the defense of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its own territory. The bill also prohibited the US military from purchasing wares from China’s Xinjiang region, citing allegations of forced labor there. 

Though Biden’s slightly more modest spending proposal was rejected by lawmakers over concerns the US military could soon lag behind adversaries, as of last year, the United States continued to spend more on its armed forces than the next 11 largest militaries combined worldwide, including China’s and Russia’s, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

What madness! Imagine what good things could be done with all that money! Even if they just out-spent the next highest military budget (Russia? China?) there would still be close to a half trillion dollars available for useful, sane programs. How does the government justify spending 3/4 of a trillion dollars on the military?

=======================================================================================

Israel doesn’t need US permission to strike Iran – FM

The Jewish state possesses capabilities the world can’t even imagine and will

use them against Tehran if necessary, the Israeli foreign minister has warned

An Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jet releases flares during an aerial demonstration. © Reuters / Baz Ratner

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has made it clear that his country can use force to curb Iran’s nuclear development without informing US President Joe Biden.

“Israel will do whatever it needs to do to protect its security. And we don’t need anybody’s permission for that. That’s been the case since the first day we established this state,” Lapid told Israel’s Channel 12 on the last day of 2021.

When asked if his country possesses the means to successfully carry out this type of attack, the foreign minister said that “Israel has capabilities, some of which the world, and even some experts in the field, cannot even imagine. And Israel will protect itself against the Iranian threat.”

Israeli officials and military figures have been mulling a strike on Iran since talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) between Tehran and world powers began under the Biden administration.

Tehran has expressed skepticism over the warnings coming from Israel, calling them “empty threats,” though promising a harsh response to any aggression.

 

Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Former President Donald Trump unliterary withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.” The Jewish state fully shared his view, vigorously opposing the agreement which, it insisted, was not enough to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

During his interview on Friday, Lapid said there has not been a “capitulation” to Tehran during the ongoing talks in Vienna. “Israel is not against a good deal, it is only against the wrong deal,” he added.

Sweden Eyes Doubling Military Budget by 2035, Citing Russian Bogeyman

The New Normal - Sweden, going broke playing NATO's game

Preparations for Aurora 17 field exercise in Skovde, Sweden. © Bjorn Larsson Rosvall / Reuters

The Swedish armed forces have called for military spending and the number of servicemen to be more than doubled by 2035 to combat future challenges, with Russia listed as the main one.

The plan is to increase the annual military budget from the current 53 billion kronor ($6.5 billion) to around 115 billion kronor ($14 billion) in seventeen years. The report, formally called the ‘perspective study,’ was published on Thursday and is yet to be submitted to Sweden’s parliament. The paper also argues that it is necessary to boost staff numbers from 50,000 people today to around 120,000 people by 2035. 

The main conclusions section of the report starts with Russia and has several paragraphs devoted to the threat it poses. “Russia has through its action in Georgia in 2008, as well as in the Crimea and in East Ukraine in 2014, showed that it does not hesitate to use military force to achieve its political goals,” the report stated.

The Swedish Army’s report also mentions that Moscow plans “to increase their military capabilities after 2020” and to strengthen the ability to “rapidly mobilize” for “offensive operations” in the near future. The report says Sweden will “inevitably” find itself in the middle of a conflict zone if Russia comes into conflict with NATO.

It is inevitable because NATO seems determined to make it happen. Bear in mind that this report is written by RT and therefore has a definite Russian slant. But also consider that NATO has been as much, if not more of an aggressor in the region than Russia. Also, keep in mind that Sweden is a very long way from the Black Sea.

It should be a concern to Swedes that billions of kronor might be wasted on the military, much of which will end up in the hands of arms merchants - those same people who control NATO and many other western countries. 

Sweden's budget is already being pushed by the extraordinary expenses related to integrating migrants. As Germany pointed out the other day, waves of radical Muslims are headed to their prisons. Prisons are very expensive and radical Muslims within them will be very difficult to deal with safely. 

Russia is expected to have “the greatest impact on the security policy situation in the Baltic Sea area,” according to the paper.

The “irrational myth about the almighty Russian threat” was recently criticized by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference. A day before delivering his speech there, Lavrov told Euronews that “only an inflamed imagination” could come up with the idea that Moscow was about to attack the Baltic or Poland, but Russophobic rhetoric in the West never seems to abate.

An EU-established independent international fact-finding mission concluded that the war in South Ossetia in 2008 “started with a massive Georgian artillery attack” and that “there was no ongoing armed attack by Russia before the start of the Georgian operation.” It also found “no evidence to support any claims that Russian peacekeeping units in South Ossetia were in flagrant breach of their obligations.” 

Crimea reunited with Russia in spring 2014 after the move was overwhelmingly approved in a snap referendum. The popular vote was prompted by a violent coup in Kiev, and the almost immediate offensive on regions in the country’s southeast, where locals refused to recognize the newly imposed regime.