Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 18 2024

The Biennale in Venice is now partially quietened down thanks to the EUR 5 entrance fee that the lagoon city demands from every day tourist. Those staying overnight are exempt. Digital verification works. Unlike the AVM - where you can also buy your tickets for the vaporetti online. The only annoying thing is that no barrier opens when you hold the barcode in front of it. Even at maximum light intensity, the scanner shows its reading weakness. So it's better to go back to the good old ticket. One less thing to lose with your mobile phone.

It wasn't just Europe that was busy at the weekend. Art Jakarta in the Global South opened its doors at the same time as Berlin and Brussels. Please read about the latter at Kobel. Jakarta should be considered next time. It's only a 12-hour flight from here.

There are publicly funded institutions, such as the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband), which supposedly look after the welfare of the often quoted defenceless little man (now extended to include women and beings whose self-perception cannot be classified there) and offer him support in all situations and against the evil companies that want to make money from the work of their employees. Seemingly objectively, they make policy and reinforce the positions of the parties that support them ideologically. Now someone has come up with the idea of wanting to remove the adjective independent from insurance brokers and the next thing you know they're coming along like any warning organisation whose primary aim is to enrich themselves. Insurance brokers are - and this was already recognised by the Federal Constitutional Court in the last century - custodians of the insurance interests of their customers. They are assigned to their sphere of risk.

The election campaign is now underway in Europe over the next few weeks. The AFD is concealing the fact that every vote in their favour is a vote for their lead candidate Krah, who would have to withdraw from his candidacy in order not to be elected. This is exactly what he is not doing and the party leadership's claim that he will not appear in public until the election is dishonest, because anyone who does not want the man should not vote for the party. The current chancellor's party in Germany shines with simply designed posters - the colour and corporate design are familiar. With the statement "Germany's strongest voices for Europe" and a double image of the Chancellor and Mrs Barley, whose voices rarely carry and who are not strong in the sense of an opera buffa, the first big mistake has already been made. "Against tax havens - for more justice", which you can also read on posters from the same shop, also makes you wonder. Is this an attack on Ireland, Malta and Luxembourg? Countries where there are other tax planning options than IDULA (in this country, for those who have forgotten). The insurance tax in Luxembourg is 4% - in Germany it is 19% - every negative development in car insurance that leads to higher premiums pays for it. But let's be honest - where in the EU are there tax havens?

It is more important to point out that the European single market also offers good development opportunities for small and medium-sized companies - and that in freedom!

With this in mind, I wish everyone a good start to a week that centres on the old working class day of struggle. In Germany, fortunately, it's a day off.

Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn