From Foreign Waters

  IT specialists, nurses, and even hairdressers - Germany lacks skilled personnel seemingly everywhere. Is the skills gap homemade, and ultimately an issue of wages and conditions? Bonn's labor market seems broken these days. Employers, not workers, are desperately seeking employees. Cafes in the town center display "employees wanted" notices. A local shoemaker told DW that he is unable to find an apprentice, as his children prefer to study at university. The blacksmith at the nearby equestrian center is similarly desperate because the apprentice he trained for several years did not want to stay on. In the current economic situation, finding an adequate replacement is nearly impossible. One of his neighbors who works for a large corporation, the shoemaker said, is also looking for staff — but even larger organizations cannot find the IT specialists they need. According to a recent report from the Economy Ministry, Germany's shortage of skilled workers is "acutel...

European countries are committed to maintaining an agreement with Turkey on refugees and do not exclude the provision of greater financial assistance to Ankara.   This was stated at a press conference in Berlin by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, commenting on the videoconference talks that took place on Tuesday between her, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.   "We also discussed the topic of migration. Today, negotiations were held between the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the European Union’s diplomacy Josep  Borrell. Here we do not lead the negotiations, but we clearly spoke out for maintaining the agreement between the EU and Turkey," Merkel noted.  "We also expressed our readiness to provide more financial assistance if necessary," she said.   According to the Chancellor, one should not “lose sight” of the possibility of negotiations with Ankara on the issue...

European powers came together in pursuit of resolving the US-Iran conflict and saving what is left of the nuclear deal with Iran. On Friday, the leaders of EU held a meeting in Brussels to seek ways to de-escalate frequent eruption of tensions between United States and Iran. EU leaders said that they were looking for a more permanent solution for the confrontation between the two, knowing that any miscalculation on either side could leave the bloc facing a major crisis. The European nations including France, Britain and Germany have unanimously rejected US president Donald Trump’s call to quit the nuclear treaty with Iran.  The treaty, called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), signed in 2015 started losing its impact after Trump withdrew US from the agreement in May 2018.  US pulled out on the grounds that it was biased and a foolish agreement. As the consequence, Washington imposed stricter economic sanctions on Tehran, crippling its economy.  Since 2018,...

The Czech Republic will not accept the German proposal for the distribution of illegal refugees among the EU member states.   This was stated by Prime Minister Andrei Babish. “We Czech Republic fundamentally reject the mechanisms for distributing refugees in the European Union, reject any quotas,” the prime minister noted. “I am surprised that someone is raising this exhausted topic again. We will be against this Germany’s proposal to accept migrants.   The negative position regarding the introduction of migration quotas in the European Union, according to Babish, is taken by the countries of the Visegrád group Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland).   Prague consults on migration policy issues with partners in this regional EU association. Earlier was reported that Germany will launch a new initiative on the allocation of illegal refugees to the EU at a meeting scheduled for next week in Brussels by EU interior ministers.   Berlin will propose to ref...

On Tuesday, the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, announced that the company would be opening a plant near Berlin to build batteries for its electric cars to be be launched in the European Market. Musk also voiced the Brexit uncertainty as one of the key factors behind his decision to set up a plant in Germany instead of UK, which he was considering earlier. In an interview with a trade magazine, Auto Express , Musk said that uncertainty over Britain’s decision to exit or be a part of the European Union “ made it too risky” for the company to establish it Gigafactory there. Germany, which closely escaped recession with 0.1% growth in last quarter, is the right place for Tesla for more reasons than one. The big advantage which comes along the way of Tesla over its decision to move to Germany is the tag ‘made in Germany’, which takes care of the quality issues. The country is known for its engineering expertise and is home to two of the world’s biggest carmakers - Volkswagen and Daimler. ...