Why Germany is cutting access to Elterngeld and how important is beer to Germans?

JOIN THE LOCAL: Podcast listener offer

On the latest episode of our Germany in Focus podcast, host Rachel Loxton is joined by panelists Rachel Stern and Sarah Magill. Our sound engineer is Rhys Edwards.

We start off by taking about a new service for registering your car online in Germany, and Sarah tells us why it's a bureaucratic nightmare.

• How using Germany's new car online registration service turned into a bureaucratic nightmare
• How to register your car in Germany online from September 1st

We talk about why the German government is planning to cut access for higher earners to a parental leave allowance called Elterngeld.

• 'A horrible idea': How cuts to Elterngeld will affect families in Germany 

With the skilled immigration law reform set to come into force in Germany, we’ll be discussing the first changes which mainly involve the EU Blue Card. 

• German Bundestag passes sweeping immigration reforms bill

Oktoberfest starts on Saturday - we talk about how important this festival is and hear from Christina Schönberger, a Brewing engineer at BarthHaas, on German beer culture and history. 

• Everything you need to know about Oktoberfest 2023

Finally, we share some regional delicacies from around Germany that you should try.

• 16 regional foods to try in each German state

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.