[rob74]

First phrase in the article: "Shortly before the German parliament's summer recess, lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms." Sounds like "done and dusted" to me. The Bundesrat (the second chamber of the parliament) also approved, er... something, but it's not clear to me if it's just the health measures or also the rest. What's left is for the Bundespräsident to sign it, but that's a formality.

And yes, no idea why the SPD is so on board with this - some measures, like having to provide a medical certificate from the first day of an illness (which in practice means you have to go see a doctor personally on the first day of sickness), are definitely not going to increase the dismal approval ratings of this government. So, for example, if you're prone to migraines, until now you would have simply called in sick for a day, now you have to drag yourself to the doctor, only for them to tell you (after potentially hours of waiting) "oh, you do look very pale and sickly today, you probably do have a migraine, here's the certificate. I assume you already took one or several headache pills? Now please, go home and rest."?!

[eigenspace]

This hasn't been voted on in the Bundesttag yet, let alone the Bundesrat or Bundespräsident.

[rob74]

Ok, so what did they actually approve? Is this just a "declaration of intent", and the actual laws will follow later?! The article clearly says "lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms" - I was also surprised that this worked so quickly, but what do I know...

[eigenspace]

I think the article just has poor wording. They went through a raft of different, unrelated reforms already, and this is part of the next set the CDUs want to get through.

[master-lincoln]

DW is the only media outlet in Germany financed directly via taxes. They are unlikely to be impartial

[shinryuu]

In what way do you think they are partial here?

[rob74]

Oh, wow, I have to admit that I didn't know that until today (although I have been living in Germany for 26 years now). I kinda just assumed that they are part of the public broadcasting system financed by the "Rundfunkbeitrag"...

[BadBadJellyBean]

Declaration of intent is a good description. Nothing is decided yet. I don't think the laws are written yet and there was definitely no vote yet.

[rbehrends]

It means that this is a cabinet decision, not (yet) legislation. It still has to go through the Bundestag. Given the opposition within the SPD and the idea being very unpopular among voters, it is not yet clear whether this will actually become law.

It is still very worrying and the unfortunate result of a lot of things going wrong at the cabinet level.

[realityking]

It hasn't even been formally approved by the cabinet. Right now it's just a political agreement between the coalition party. A law still has to be drafted that the cabinet can then submit to the Bundestag.