The association foodsharing was founded in 2012 with the goal of ending food waste. Its volunteers collect food from shops and businesses that would otherwise be thrown away.
Since its website started in 2012, about 155,000 volunteers, called Foodsaver, and about 15,250 partner organizations have taken part. In 2023 alone they saved about 18 million kilograms of food. Food is also shared at public collection points called Fairteiler.
In 2021 the state of Thuringia began paying half the cost of repairing electrical devices, up to a maximum of 100 euros per year. Nearly 10,000 applications were funded each year. Thuringia was the first state with such a bonus.
Thuringia also proposed a national repair bonus in the Bundesrat, but the proposal did not win a majority among the states. From 2026 Thuringia ended its own bonus because of the tight state budget.
On 1 September 2022 a federal regulation to secure the energy supply came into force. It applied until 28 February 2023. Work rooms in public buildings could be heated to no more than 19 degrees Celsius for light, mostly seated work.
Shops were not allowed to keep their doors permanently open when heat escaped. Illuminated advertising had to be switched off from 10 p.m. until 4 p.m. the next day.
In August 2022, during the energy crisis, Winfried Kretschmann, the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, gave advice on saving energy. In a newspaper interview he said: “Auch der Waschlappen ist eine brauchbare Erfindung.” The washcloth is also a useful invention.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, a municipality that uses up its reserves beyond limits set by law must draw up a Haushaltssicherungskonzept, a budget security plan. The plan must show how the budget will be balanced again by the tenth year at the latest. The supervisory authority must approve it.
Without that approval, the municipality may not publish its budget. A research institute of the University of Münster writes that such plans are part of everyday life for municipalities. In practice they are felt as “erdrosselnd”, strangling.
The Federal Budget Code requires that the principles of Wirtschaftlichkeit und Sparsamkeit, economy and thrift, be observed when the budget is drawn up and carried out. It adds: “Für alle finanzwirksamen Maßnahmen sind angemessene Wirtschaftlichkeitsuntersuchungen durchzuführen.” Every measure that costs money needs an appropriate study of its economy.
A 2024 paper of the Bundestag’s research service names choices that such a study compares: renting or buying, doing a task with the agency’s own staff or with outside providers. Aspects that cannot be expressed in money must also be considered.
At the end of October, German children carry their filled piggy banks to the bank. The occasion is the Weltspartag, World Savings Day. Banks and savings banks often hand out small gifts, such as money boxes, cuddly toys, games and books.
The day was created in 1924 by delegates from 27 countries. The German savings banks first celebrated it on 31 October 1925. Since then it has promoted the idea of saving.
die Entscheidungsfindung
the finding of a decision, the process of deciding
die Urteilsfindung
the finding of a verdict, the deliberation of a court
die Wahrheitsfindung
the finding of the truth
die Findungskommission
the finding committee, the search committee that selects a university president or a broadcasting director
On 5 December 2025 the Bundestag passed a new military service law. 323 members voted for it and 272 against. Young men must fill out a questionnaire, and medical screening at 18 becomes compulsory again. The service itself remains voluntary.
Compulsory service would need a separate law. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that if too few volunteers came forward or the situation stayed the same or became worse, partial compulsory service could not be avoided.
Parliament decided the first step and left the second step to a later decision.
In April 2025 the German Olympic Sports Confederation postponed its choice of a German candidate for the Olympic Games. The decision had been planned for its regular assembly on 6 December. It moved to an extraordinary assembly by the end of September 2026 at the latest.
The interested regions received time until June 2026 “um die Bewerbung gesellschaftlich abzusichern”, to secure public support for the bid. Board member Volker Bouffier said: “Fit machen muss mehr bedeuten als ein Bekenntnis, dass wir Olympische Spiele wollen.” Getting fit must mean more than declaring that we want the Olympic Games.
The assembly met in Baden-Baden in September 2026. By then Hamburg’s bid had failed in a referendum, and Berlin had withdrawn.