Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens‘ News Blog 39 2024

Brandenburg – the state that includes Berlin's commuter belt – has voted: only four parties will be represented in the state parliament. The Left, the Greens, the Free Voters are all out, and a party with 40 members in the state has received more than 13% of the vote without a really visible programme. BSW, controlled by the resurrected Rosa Luxemburg in the form of Sarah Wagenknecht (speaks well, is unafraid, also still looks good and knows how to emphasise points that could have come from the pen of her husband, former SPD leader Oskar Lafontaine). For potential government participation, this means that every party member has at least a chance of becoming a state secretary. AfD, of course, is at least the second strongest party. What both (BSW and AfD) have in common is that no one really looks at their programmes. Perhaps the journalistic opinion makers have to relearn - putting something in a corner is a sign of poor pedagogy (this has even reached the teaching staff) - describing facts and letting others comment is more like journalistic work - but the RND - Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (also called the Reichsnachrichtendienst by well-meaning insiders) - hasn't heard much about that yet. Next weekend it's Austria's turn – there will be elections there and we can all look forward to it.

Travel broadens the mind – and a trip to Naples is no exception. That's where the G7 culture ministers met with their Brazilian and African counterparts last Friday and Saturday. With the security presence in Pompeii (nice to see manhole covers being welded shut to protect culture ministers), our very own Claudia Roth was also expected to appear, given that she currently is currently holding the reins of government – but wait, it wasn't the ever-smiling Claudia from Bavaria, no, Ms Baerbock also has a state secretary who is responsible for culture: Katja Keul, ever heard of her? This completely escaped me. Probably just like the reporting on this conference in Germany, at which the destruction of culture by the Russians in Ukraine was condemned and far-reaching support for the discovery and preservation of their cultural heritage was promised to African countries. Anyway, other G7 countries have their own culture ministers – Germany has commissioners and state secretaries. And another thing: the last conference of G7 culture ministers also took place in Italy, seven years ago, because the country also held the G7 presidency at that time. Culture only seems to have a place in Arcadia when you look at it on the big, global stage. Jacob Burckardt (1818-1897), a cultural historian from Basel, would have been delighted.

And then Ursula von der Leyen landed another coup at the European level – at least she is trying to, if the Parliament goes along with it. The 35-year-old Maltese Glenn Micallef is to become Commissioner for Youth, Sport and Culture, taking over from Iliana Ivanova of Bulgaria. The Erasmus+ programme alone has a budget of almost €27 billion for the next five years. Air Malta can probably look forward to a lot of training being organised on this little island. After all, English is also the national language. The candidate has not yet worked in a practical capacity outside of the political level, and his CV also provides little information as to why he is the right person to take care of culture, sport or youth in Europe. He would be the youngest EU commissioner ever – surely that qualifies him for youth issues...

The insurance industry is having to deal with enormous losses from natural disasters in Austria, Slovenia and Romania. Warmer air simply stores more moisture – and that has to come out, even when it rains in the form of torrents.

We wish you a lively and rather dry week. Today is the beginning of autumn!

The team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn.