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Happy International Women's Day 🎉

I want to celebrate and honor the incredible achievements of women everywhere. Thank you to all the women who inspire strength, resilience, and creativity in everything you do.

This day reminds us of our progress and the work still ahead in achieving true gender equality. Let's continue supporting, uplifting, and empowering each other daily.

To celebrate this day, we are offering our subscribers a 50% discount on our book Buying a House in Germany and our German Citizenship Course. Use the coupon WOMENSDAY50 at the checkout to apply the discount.

Thank you, amazing women, for making a difference in the world!
Teresa and Neha

Ukraine war peace negotiations

The US has made its stance clear in the Ukraine war, which is to stop all the military aid. The Trump administration is prioritizing peace negotiations, even if it means Ukraine has to surrender its territory.

So, where does it leave Ukraine and the EU?

• UK, France, Germany, Poland, and Norway strongly support Ukraine. They are raising funds and troops as peacekeepers.
• Ukraine demands that Russia hand over the occupied territories and pay for the damage. This seems very unlikely under current circumstances.
• Europe seeks defense autonomy amid U.S. policy shifts.
• France might extend its nuclear umbrella over its European partners.
• Germany's CDU announced a deal with the SPD to raise €200 billion for defense via an emergency fund. CDU also proposed investing up to €400 billion in defense and €500 billion for infrastructure over a decade. This is supposed to stimulate the stagnant German economy. However, to pass this proposal, CDU must amend Germany’s debt brake (constitutional borrowing limit). This requires a two-thirds majority in the parliament. The proposal will be presented before the new parliament’s first session on March 24, 2025.

You can read the live coverage of the Ukraine war at BBC.

CDU and SPD plan to reduce the electricity cost for all

• CDU and SPD aim to cut electricity prices by eliminating the electricity tax and reducing the network charges.
• The electricity tax will drop from 2.05 ct/kWh to 0.1 ct/kWh, saving a family with 4000kWh consumption €93/year.
• Planning to halve the network charges. The aim is to reduce the cost by 5 ct/kWh.
• As the electricity tax and network charges reduce, the VAT will also reduce. Thus bringing in more savings.
• As soon as the proposal is approved, you can immediately see the savings from the tax cut. Moreover, you don't have to do anything; the savings will be passed on to you automatically.
• Savings from the network charges will be realised by the end of 2025.
• You shouldn't opt for a new electricity contract with fixed prices and a 24-month minimum period. The reason is that network charges will be reduced by the end of 2025. So, if you have a 24-month contract with fixed prices, you won't benefit from the reduced network charges.
• You can check for new electricity contracts of 12 months. You may save a few hundred euros by making the switch. You can compare the electricity plans on Check24*.

Strike at all major German airports on Monday.

• Verdi has called for a 24-hour strike by airport workers on Monday, 10 March 2025.
• Verdi demands an 8% wage increase (or at least €350 more per month), higher bonuses, and additional time off.
• The strike is a follow-up to earlier strikes in February 2025.
• Depending on how the third round of negotiations goes, similar strikes may occur in other professions, such as doctors and railway workers.

Visualization of the week

The image below breaks down how people are insured in Germany.

• The first pie chart shows the distribution of the German population between the two healthcare systems.
• In the second pie chart, we examine public health insurance and the distribution of its members based on insurance type.
• In the last pie chart, we dig further to explore what professions are voluntarily insured in public health insurance.

Read more about how to interpret these numbers in our guide.

Voluntarily insured members are usually high earners and pay the highest public health insurance premiums. If you fall in this category, you have two ways to save on premiums.

• ​Switch to a cheaper public health insurer. This can save you up to 1000€ per annum.
• Opt for private health insurance. However, you should first educate yourself about it. Moreover, consult an expert before taking private insurance.

Community Shoutouts! 📣

• The ECB reduced the deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5% pa. Unfortunately, it didn't reduce the borrowing rate. This is because of the volatile political situation and poor economic growth.
• Get legal advice in English. We launched a new service that connects you with English-speaking lawyers. The lawyers offer legal advice in areas like rent increase, immigration law, labor law, etc. You can book a free initial assessment or paid expert advice on your case. You can even ask questions via email. Let us know if you find this service useful by replying to this email.
• Common legal problems expats face: Overpaying rent, issues with getting the security deposit back, wrongful termination, negotiating fair severance pay, waiting for years to get a resident permit, and more. You can discuss these situations with a lawyer and know your rights.
• Filing tax returns can sometimes become overwhelming, especially when you have income from outside Germany or a special situation. In these cases, consulting a tax advisor makes sense. We have partnered with an English-speaking tax advisor who specializes in handling such cases. You can request a free quote here. Please note that tax advisors in Germany are expensive. Thus, hiring them only makes sense if you have complex tax filing (i.e., income from outside Germany, rental income, business, etc.). For simple cases, tax software (Wundertax*, SteuerGo*) is a better and much cheaper option.
• Learning a new language is always interesting and challenging. Whether you'll stay in Germany long-term or short-term, knowing German can benefit you in both your personal and professional life. If you are into online courses, we find the German courses from SmarterGerman* to be one of the best. The author has decades of experience teaching German to expats and has created easy-to-remember patterns to help you with the grammar, the famous "der, die, das" disorder, and more. You can try the course for free here*.

Whether it's a must-visit place, a life hack, or an inspiring story, we’d love to hear from you.

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New on GermanPedia

Launched the service to connect you with English-speaking lawyers 🥳 We know that finding a good lawyer in Germany can be overwhelming, especially when looking for an English-speaking attorney. So, we decided to simplify the process by connecting you with licensed lawyers who provide clear, professional legal advice in English. Get legal advice in English

Expats guide to buying a house in Germany Grab your copy German healthcare demystified Free Download German healthcare demystified for students Free Download ​ Deals for you Ask an expert ​Health insurance expert​ ​Mortgage advisor​ ​Tax advisor​ ​Immigration lawyer​ Important types of insurance you should have in Germany ​Public health insurance ​ ​Register with TK​ ​Private health insurance ​ ​Consult an expert for free​ ​Dental Insurance ​ ​Deutsche Familienversicherung AG* Allianz ​Private liability insurance Die Haftpflichtkasse (Einfach Komplett). You can get it via comparison portals like Check24* and Verivox*. ​Legal protection insurance ​Arag* ​KS-Auxilia* WGV ​Car Insurance​ ​Verivox* ​Tarifcheck* ​Term life insurance​ ​Allianz* Personal Finance Free trading accounts ​Scalable Capital* ​Finanzen.net Zero* Tax Software ​Wundertax* ​SteuerGo* Free Checking account ​C24* ​N26* NOTE: Investing involves the risk of loss Fixed account for 12 months (Festgeld) Up to 2.75% interest. Check offers from different providers here*. Tagesgeld account for 6 months Up to 2.9% interest. Check offers from different providers here*. Personal loan ​Verivox* ​Tarifcheck* ​Finanzcheck* ​Smava*

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