The statutory minimum wage is set to rise to €12 in October in Germany

 

 "It is currently 9.82 euros. Businesses in the retail and service sectors in particular will then have to pay their employees more.

Almost every second company in Germany will have to adjust their salaries in October due to the planned increase in the statutory minimum wage to EUR 12. This emerges from a survey by the Munich Ifo Institute for the personnel service provider Randstad, which was published on Wednesday. Around 1,000 HR managers from companies of different sizes and industries were surveyed.

44 percent of companies have to adjust their wages upwards. Half of the companies, on the other hand, already pay at least 12 euros. 6 percent did not provide any information. The results also show that the unscheduled increase affects different sectors of the economy to different degrees. 

 

54 percent of retail companies said they had to adjust their salary structures, and around 42 percent in the service sector. At 37 percent, the proportion of companies affected is lowest in industry, which traditionally pays higher wages.

 

Increasing the statutory minimum wage to 12 euros is a key campaign promise made by the SPD, leading partners of German ruling coalition. It causes a lot of criticism from employers, since the Minimum Wage Commission, made up of representatives from employers, employees and economists, actually decides on the amount of the statutory minimum wage. The Association of Bavarian Business spoke on Wednesday of an "unacceptable intervention in collective bargaining autonomy".

The statutory minimum wage is currently EUR 9.82, and will rise to EUR 10.45 at the beginning of July. According to the draft law by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), 6.2 million employees are to benefit from the increase to 12 euros. During the election campaign there was talk of ten million. 

According to the Ifo survey, a third of the workforce in the affected service companies will earn more, in other sectors it is a quarter of the employees."

Employers in some European countries often give the lowest pay for the easiest jobs. If you are a self-starter, you can take such an easy job in Germany for minimum pay of €12, and use free time and what is left of your energy to study, and to move on to a better valued position. Good luck for the Lithuanians willing and able to use this opportunity in Germany.

Ukrainos lyderis Zelenskis panaikino šauktinių tarnybą armijoje

 "Vladimiras Zelenskis nusprendė panaikinti šauktinių tarnybą Ukrainoje. Ukrainos lyderio dekretu šalies kariuomenė iki 2024 metų turėtų visiškai pereiti prie profesionalių karių, tuo pačiu padidindama jos pajėgas 100 tūkst. žmonių".

Ukrainian leader Zelensky cancels conscription

 "Vladimir Zelensky decided to cancels conscription in Ukraine. By decree of the Ukrainian leader, the country's army should completely switch to a contract basis by 2024, simultaneously increasing its strength by 100 thousand people."

Susidūręs su JAV dėl Ukrainos, Putinas turi rimtą pagalbą iš Kinijos

    „PEKINAS. Jungtinėms Valstijoms stengiantis daryti maksimalų spaudimą Rusijai, baiminantis invazijos į Ukrainą, Rusijos prezidentas Vladimiras V. Putinas rado palengvėjimą iš savo galingiausios partnerės pasaulinėje arenoje – Kinijos.

 

    Kinija išreiškė palaikymą V. Putino nuoskaudoms dėl JAV ir NATO, prisijungė prie Rusijos, siekdama blokuoti veiksmus prieš Rusiją Jungtinių Tautų Saugumo Taryboje ir atmetė amerikiečių perspėjimus, kad invazija sukels „pasaulinę saugumo ir ekonominę riziką“, kuri galėtų paliesti ir Kiniją.

 

    Penktadienį V. Putinas Pekine susitiks su Kinijos lyderiu Xi Jinpingu prieš žiemos olimpinių žaidynių atidarymo ceremoniją, kurią prezidentas Bidenas ir kiti lyderiai aiškiai pažadėjo boikotuoti.

 

    Nors informacija apie bet kokius galimus susitarimus tarp dviejų šalių nebuvo atskleista, tikimasi, kad pats susitikimas – pirmasis pono Xi asmeniškai su pasaulio lyderiu per beveik dvejus metus – bus dar vienas viešas abiejų valstybių geopolitinio draugiškumo demonstravimas.

 

    Kinijos pažadas teikti ekonominę ir politinę paramą V. Putinui gali pakenkti Bideno strategijai smerkti Rusijos lyderį dėl jo karinio stiprinimo prie Ukrainos sienų.

 

    Tai taip pat gali paskatinti tektoninį JAV ir Kinijos konkurencijos poslinkį, kuris galėtų nuskambėti nuo Europos iki Ramiojo vandenyno."

  Kaip tai atrodo konkrečiai?   

„Vašingtonas su nerimu stebėjo, kaip Kinija ir Rusija vis labiau susibičiuliauja, ypač ekonomiškai. Praėjusį mėnesį Kinija paskelbė, kad metinė prekyba su Rusija pasiekė beveik 147 mlrd. dolerių, palyginti su 68 mlrd. dolerių 2015 m., praėjus metams po to, kai Rusija reintegravo Krymą ir rėmė separatistus Rytų Ukrainoje“.

 

In clashing with the U.S. over Ukraine, Putin has a lifeline from China.

"BEIJING — As the United States moves to exert maximal pressure on Russia over fears of a Ukraine invasion, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has found relief from his most powerful partner on the global stage: China.

China has expressed support for Mr. Putin’s grievances against the United States and NATO, joined Russia to try to block action on Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council, and brushed aside American warnings that an invasion would create “global security and economic risks” that could consume China, too.

On Friday, Mr. Putin will meet in Beijing with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that President Biden and other leaders have pointedly vowed to boycott.

Although details of any potential agreements between the two countries have not been disclosed, the meeting itself — Mr. Xi’s first in person with a world leader in nearly two years — is expected to be yet another public display of geopolitical amity between the two powers.

A Chinese promise of economic and political support for Mr. Putin could undermine Mr. Biden’s strategy to ostracize the Russian leader for his military buildup on Ukraine’s borders. 

It could also punctuate a tectonic shift in the rivalry between the United States and China that could reverberate from Europe to the Pacific."

How does it look?

"Washington has watched with concern as China and Russia have aligned themselves ever more closely, especially economically. Last month, China announced that annual trade with Russia had reached nearly $147 billion, compared with $68 billion in 2015, the year after Russia reintegrated Crimea and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine."

 

Mes - nulis Lietuvos valdžiai

 Jei Landsbergiams pavyktų sukelti karą, jie nori rinkti mus visus mokyklose ir beginklius paleisti prieš svetimą kariuomenę. Kad televizoriuje atrodytų dramatiškai. Šalis jau išvogta, išnešiota po vieną auksinį šaukštą. Liko tik toks dramatiškas gynybos būdas.

And again we didn't think about it ... When we banned the transportation of Belarusian fertilizers by rail, the Belarusians answered us the same way - they banned the transportation of cargo from Lithuania by rail

Šimonytė thought that Belarusians would gently, like cats, sue us  for breaking the fertilizer contract. After all, the accountant Šimonytė still knows about the courts, but she doesn't understand public policy. In a free market, everyone will try to avoid the obstacles that are now emerging in Lithuania. Losses will fall on Klaipėda port, Lithuanian railways, and Lithuanian exporters. We'll have to wait a long time for lower taxes, if at all:

 

    "After the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday a ban on the transit of rail freight from Lithuania, a representative of the Lithuanian Railways (LTG) confirmed to the BNS that the company had received a letter confirming this from the Railway Transport Council, which unites about 20 railway companies from different countries.

 

    According to Mantas Dubauskas, the ban will be applied to transport oil products and fertilizers from Lithuania via Belarus. It will take effect on February 7th.

 

    Whether the ban will apply to non-transit cargo, he said he could not say.

 

    Lithuanian Railways has previously reported to BNS that after rejecting empty potassium fertilizer wagons still returning to Belarus, an average of 18 trains a day depart from Lithuania to Belarus from 1 February.

 

    "It is planned that in February, about 30 percent of the trains (5-6) crossing the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on the Lithuanian side should consist of trains loaded at Lithuanian stations, and most of them would go to Belarus, Russia, Ukraine,” - the company said in a comment to BNS.

 

    According to the company, the trains formed in Lithuania mainly transport oil products, fertilizers and ferrous metals. Oil products and nitrogen fertilizers are transported to Ukraine via Belarus by Orlen Lietuva and Jonava Achema.

 

    Some Lithuanian exporters claim that they are already directing their cargo through Poland.

 

    In response to the actions of Belarus, some of the country's manufacturers are already trying new routes through Poland, says Vaidotas Šileika, President of the Association of Lithuanian Stevedoring Companies (LJKKA). According to him, Lithuanian carriers could transport cargo by trucks or rail through Latvia or Poland (more expensive method).

 

    "One of them is to transfer part of the cargo from rail to road and bypass Belarus or, if transit for road transport is not closed, to cross Belarus by road. Another solution is to bypass Belarus and try to transport cargo by rail through Latvia, but it is doubtful whether sufficient transit cargo capacity will be ensured on this route. Another alternative is cargo transportation through Poland, which has been tested by some Lithuanian manufacturers," - he said in a comment to the media.

 

    V. Šileika says that blocking the way for transit through Belarus could disrupt 2-3 million tons or even higher cargo flow from Klaipėda port.

 

    "This would mean quite big losses for Klaipėda port and companies there. Currently, about 2-3 mln. tons of a wide range of cargo: chemical products, fertilizers, agricultural products, metal products, equipment, various cargo in containers, etc. If we add the flow of cargo transported by road, which crosses Belarus, the volume of cargo would be significantly higher,” - says V. Šileika.

 

    According to him, it is not clear whether the train "Viking", which transports containers to Klaipėda port, will be stopped.

 

    "This is a joint project of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, the fate of which is also unclear. Today, this train is quite loaded and carries a number of containers. However, the question is what the future holds for it, whether this train will be allowed into Belarus and the project will be continued, or whether it will also be stopped,” - says the President of LJKKA.

 

    According to V. Šileika, the supply chain would become more expensive due to such alternatives, therefore it is natural that cargo owners would start considering whether to choose Klaipėda port for their transportation.

 

    At that time, Jonava nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer Achema assured that such a move by Minsk would cause it problems.

 

    Ramūnas Miliauskas, CEO of Achema, told BNS on Tuesday that the company is constantly transporting its products to Ukraine via Belarus, which would cause it serious problems.

 

    "If Belarus decides not to accept railway transport from Lithuania, it would cause serious difficulties for both us and our customers. The closure of the borders with Belarus would have to cancel existing and future contracts with customers or divert production logistics through Latvia, which would undoubtedly increase logistics costs and increase the financial burden for us and our customers,” - the head of the company said in a comment to BNS.

 

    BNS has not yet received a comment from Orlen Lietuvos. Michalas Rudnickis, the CEO of the company, last year BNS said that it had already tested alternative rail freight to Ukraine, via Poland instead of Belarus, and that it was already transporting about 8% of products throughout this new route.

 

     "We wanted to try and prove that there is such an alternative. The route is not longer, but less convenient, because the rolling stock needs to be changed twice," - said M. Rudnickis this time."

 

People, think when you vote. Not all accountants (Grybauskaitė, Nausėda, Šimonytė) are suitable for state administration.