Germany introduced a minimum wage on January 1st, 2015 – a first in a country that had hitherto left it to the social partners to agree on salaries. This introduction came after vivid debates between those who fought against ever deeper inequalities and those who defended the nation...
Publications
With over 150 publications issued each year
under an open access policy in French, English, German and Russian,
Ifri enriches the international debate with a constant concern for
objectivity, intellectual rigor, transversality, openness, and support to public and private decision-making.
The British decision to leave the European Union comes at a critical moment for Germany and the EU. It exacerbates the “polycrisis” of recent years and leads to controversial questions: What should the EU look like without Great Britain? What is the objective, the “finality”, of European...
The 2016 White Paper on security policy and the future of the Bundeswehr is testament to Berlin’s declared will to play a more active role internationally, to assume more responsibility and to provide leadership in close concertation with its partners in Europe and the world.
German agriculture is characterized by regionally different farm structures but in the midst of a transformation process. Rapid structural change is seen especially in animal production. Total production increased during the past decade due to intensification but the number of labour force...
The German debate about public investment policyfaces a dilemma. The deficits in public infrastructure have grown considerably due to comparatively low investments in recent years. In addition, substantial investments for promising mega-projects, such as the energy transition (“Energiewende”)...
The conflict in and about Ukraine has catapulted the European Union's Eastern Partnership (EaP) into the limelight of international attention. Belittled as a bureaucratic and technical policy instrument, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EaP as its Eastern regional dimension have...
Since the speeches delivered by President Joachim Gauck, Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen at the 2014 Munich Security Conference, Germany has seen a debate on new responsibilities in its foreign and security...
This essay focuses on Greek-German relations with emphasis on the period of the SY.RIZ.A-Independent Greeks governments in 2015. In particular, it attempts to outline the political dimension of negotiations between Athens and Berlin at the EU level and explore mistakes and opportunities in the...