Overview
- The coalition approved a five-cent-per-kilowatt-hour electricity price for energy‑intensive firms from 2026 to 2028, with funding from the climate and transformation fund and EU state‑aid talks said to be largely concluded.
- The government announced a proposed Deutschlandfonds to leverage private capital via KfW‑run programs, though size, instruments and final design remain unspecified.
- An eight‑gigawatt gas‑power tender will launch in 2026 for plants due by 2031, and the air‑ticket tax is set to be reduced from 1 July 2026 to bolster the aviation sector.
- Economic experts, including Veronika Grimm, called the package short‑lived and urged structural reforms on pensions and competitiveness, as internal dissent in the Union over maintaining the 48% pension level past 2031 complicates passage.
- On the football front, Germany seeks to clinch direct 2026 World Cup qualification with wins over Luxembourg and Slovakia, has friendlies set against Ivory Coast (30 March 2026) and Finland (31 May 2026) with further matches reported, and the DFB is backing a €100 million spin‑out of the Women’s Bundesliga with a founding meeting planned for 10 December.