Germany today (Mon 9 Nov): From 20 Nov, 'pay later' needs a credit check, Merz picks Aigner for president, coalition row over plastic tax, Leverkusen win the Rhine derby

Good morning! Here's your German news for Monday, 9 November. There's one thing you should know before Black Friday: from 20 November, 'pay later' services like Klarna and PayPal, and small instalment plans, will need a credit check, just like a loan. Have a look at item 3.

1. [Politics] Merz names Ilse Aigner as the official candidate for president

• Sun 8 Nov, evening — Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the CDU leadership he wants Ilse Aigner (CSU, 61), the president of the Bavarian state parliament, as the candidate for the next Federal President. The party leadership is due to confirm it today
• What's changed? — last Saturday she was only being talked about as the favourite. Now the Chancellor has named her himself, so she's the official candidate
• The vote is on 30 January 2027 — the president is elected by the Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung): the 630 members of the Bundestag plus 630 delegates from the state parliaments, 1,260 people in all. Together, the CDU, CSU and SPD have about 50 votes more than a majority
• The SPD backs her too — SPD leader Lars Klingbeil called Aigner someone with "the power to bring people together". The AfD says it will put up its own candidate
• What it means for you — if she's elected, she'll be Germany's first woman president and the first from the CSU. The president signs laws and represents the country, but has little power in day-to-day politics

Source: zdfheute.de · berliner-zeitung.de · tagesspiegel.de (dpa)

2. [Economy] "We're not doing a plastic tax" — coalition row ahead of the final 2027 budget meeting

• Sun 8 Nov, ZDF interview — Thorsten Frei of the CDU/CSU said "we're not doing a plastic tax", arguing that it doesn't work for either the economy or the environment
• What was the plan? — a tax of €550 for every tonne of plastic used in packaging, due to start in July 2027
• The finance minister's numbers — Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) expected €805 million in 2027 and about €1.5 billion a year from 2028
• The SPD says it's "not dead" — SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch hit back, saying a draft already exists, talks are going on and the plan is "not over"
• What it means for you — if the tax comes, packaging and some products could get more expensive from mid-2027. We'll know more after the Bundestag budget committee's final meeting (Bereinigungssitzung) this Thursday, which usually runs into the early hours of Friday

Finance ministry plan · 2027 is half a year, from July

Source: t-online.de · ariva.de (dpa)

3. [Society] From 20 November, 'pay later' and small instalments need a credit check

• From Fri 20 Nov — the new EU Consumer Credit Directive (CCD II) applies in Germany. Products that weren't regulated until now will count as 'consumer credit'
• What's changing? — it covers 'buy now, pay later' and 'three interest-free instalments' type payments, loans under €200 and short interest-free loans. Ordinary invoice payment, where the shop gives you up to 50 days to pay with no interest, stays as it is
• Credit check (Bonitätsprüfung) — lenders may only lend if you look likely to pay it back. Sensitive data, such as social media or health information, must not be used for the check. If you're turned down automatically, you can ask for a person to look at it again
• Overdraft (Dispo) — a bank must tell you at least 30 days before it removes your overdraft limit, and before demanding the money back it must first offer a 12-month repayment plan
• What it means for you — if you click 'pay later' with Klarna, PayPal or similar on Black Friday, you'll now get a credit check and could be turned down. If your contract information was wrong, the time limit for cancelling is now set at a maximum of 12 months and 14 days

Source: comdirect magazine · bwr-partner.de · netz-trends.de

4. [Culture] "Ready for therapy" — a Berlin doctor wins gold at the German cartoon prize

• Sun 8 Nov, Dresden — the 2026 German Cartoon Prize (Deutscher Karikaturenpreis) was presented at the Schauspielhaus theatre in Dresden. This year's theme was "Ready for therapy" (Reif für die Therapie)
• Gold — Jan Klocke (born 1989), a hospital doctor from Berlin, won with his cartoon "Tumortherapie" (tumour therapy). The prize is worth €4,000
• Silver, bronze and newcomer — silver went to Leonard Riegel from Frankfurt ("Merzwanderer"), bronze to Teresa Backmund from Leipzig ("Quereinsteiger", career changer), and the newcomer prize to Maxim Seehagen from Lower Saxony
• Over 1,000 entries — 265 cartoonists sent in more than 1,000 works. The total prize money is €11,000, and the prize is run by the Sächsische Zeitung and the Weser-Kurier newspapers
• What it means for you — an exhibition of the winning cartoons opens today at the Haus der Presse in Dresden, and from 24 Nov at the state parliament in Bremen. It's a great way to get a feel for German political humour

Source: tagesspiegel.de (dpa) · t-online.de

5. [Arts] Cottbus festival of Eastern European film — main prize for "You Don't Belong Here"

• 3–8 Nov — the 36th FilmFestival Cottbus, which brings together films from Eastern Europe, took place in Cottbus, Brandenburg
• Main prize (€15,000) — went to "You Don't Belong Here" by Florin Șerban, a story about a father and son
• Best director (€7,500) — Vladlena Sandu won for her first feature film, "Memory", about a childhood in Grozny, Chechnya
• 147 films from 43 countries — that's how many were shown at this year's festival
• What it means for you — it's a big festival where you can watch Eastern European films with German subtitles. Keep an eye out for the winners in German cinemas or on streaming

Source: tagesspiegel.de (dpa) · niederlausitz-aktuell.de

6. [Entertainment] Nico Santos tops the album chart for the first time

• Fri 6 Nov, official German charts — singer Nico Santos went to number one in the album chart with his new album "POV". It's his first number-one album
• Albums 2 and 3 — Swiss electronic duo Yello are second with "Time Lab", and Queens of the Stone Age are third. Thanks to Halloween, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" climbed from 13th to 4th
• Singles chart — Tate McRae's "Housewife" is number one for the third week running. German rapper Ski Aggu and Ericson jumped from 11th to 2nd with "Verschwommen"
• Highest new entry — Ayliva's "Für immer" came in at number 5
• What it means for you — Santos has had a number-one single before, "Die Sonne" with Kontra K in 2023. If you practise listening with German songs, start with the German-language tracks in the chart. The next chart comes out on Friday the 13th

Source: offiziellecharts.de · smago.de · t-online.de

7. [Sports] Leverkusen win the Rhine derby 2-1 — Freiburg move up to third

• Sun 8 Nov, Cologne 1-2 Leverkusen — Aleix García scored from a free kick in the 7th minute and Patrik Schick added a goal in the 85th. Said El Mala pulled one back for Cologne in stoppage time
• Freiburg 2-0 Union Berlin — an own goal (55') and a goal from Yuito Suzuki (67') did it. Freiburg are now third on 19 points
• Hoffenheim 2-1 Schalke — Aslani and Lemperle scored in the first half. Schalke are 17th on 6 points
• The table after matchday 9 — Bayern and Dortmund are first and second, both on 21 points. At the bottom are Union (7 pts, 16th), Schalke (6 pts) and Mönchengladbach (4 pts, 18th)
• Now an international break — because of the national team's games (away at Serbia on the 13th, the Netherlands in Berlin on the 16th), there's no Bundesliga this weekend

Bayern top on goal difference

Source: zdfheute.de · zdfheute.de · bundesliga.com · hessenschau.de

Weather

City	Tue 10 Nov	Wed 11 Nov	Thu 12 Nov
Berlin	☁️ 4° / 0° cloudy	🌧️ 4° / 3° rain at times	⛅ 6° / 2° mostly cloudy, a little sun
Hamburg	⛅ 7° / 3° mostly cloudy	☁️ 5° / 3° cloudy	🌤️ 7° / 2° sunny spells
Munich	🌧️ 10° / 8° steady light rain	🌦️ 17° / 8° rain at times, windy	🌦️ 15° / 9° a little sun, rain at times
Cologne	🌦️ 10° / 1° sunny spells, showers in places	🌧️ 9° / 7° steady light rain	⛅ 8° / 4° mostly cloudy
Frankfurt	🌦️ 9° / 3° sunny spells, showers in places	☁️ 12° / 6° cloudy, rain in places	🌦️ 10° / 4° a little sun, showers in places

Tip: On Tuesday morning it'll drop close to 0° around Berlin and Hamburg, so there could be fog and ground frost. Take it slowly on your bike or in the car, and scrape the frost off your windscreen in good time. If you're going to the start of the Cologne carnival season on Wednesday (11.11), a rain jacket is a must. Munich gets up to a mild 17° on Wednesday, but it'll be windy. (Forecast: wetter.com)

German from today's news

Word	Meaning	Example from the news
die Bundesversammlung	Federal Convention (the body that elects the president)	Die Bundesversammlung wählt am 30. Januar 2027.
die Bundespräsidentin	Federal President (woman)	Ilse Aigner könnte die erste Bundespräsidentin werden.
der Haushalt	budget; household	Am Donnerstag geht es um den Haushalt 2027.
die Bonitätsprüfung	credit check	Auch beim Ratenkauf gibt es jetzt eine Bonitätsprüfung.
der Ratenkauf	buying in instalments	Der Ratenkauf gilt ab dem 20. November als Kredit.
die Länderspielpause	international break	Die Bundesliga geht in die Länderspielpause.

Have a good start to the week, and watch out for fog in the mornings. Einen guten Wochenstart! 🇩🇪