Sometimes, late at night, an uncomfortable thought surfaces: who is actually going to pay for all of this? The growing national debt, the ever-expanding social promises, the rising federal subsidies for pensions and welfare.
A paradoxical situation has developed in the European Union. The population is ageing, the economy is stagnating, and at the same time huge amounts of people's savings are lying unused in banks.
‘Sabre rattling’ (as German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier lamented in 2016 regarding warnings against Russia’s expansion) can be heard from all sides: The Green Party's candidate for Chancellor, Robert Habeck states the goal of spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence.