Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

SPD to announce results of members poll on coalition pact

After its 15-day online vote concluded on Tuesday, the Socal Democrats (SPD) are set to announce whether party members have approved or rejected the coalition pact on Wednesday. 

In an press statement scheduled for 10:30am, the party will reveal what percentage of its some 358,000 members voted in favour of the agreement. 

If a majority vote in favour, nothing stands in the way of the signing of the 144-page coalition agreement planned for next Monday. The election of CDU leader Friedrich Merz as Federal Chancellor and the swearing in of his cabinet is planned for the following day. 

The CSU and CDU have already signed off on the document, with both parties announcing their ministerial picks on Monday. However, the SPD has said it would wait for the results of the members' vote before revealing who will head up each of its seven ministries. According to media reports, this will be done by next week. 

READ ALSO: Who is the new German minister in charge of immigration?

In contrast to the Union, SPD members have been far more critical about the agreed coalition pact, with some factions criticising vague promises on the minimum wage and the tough line on benefits and migration.

The party's Jusos youth wing, which has around 80,000 members, has recommended a vote against the pact and the reopening of negotations. 

In addition to a majority of votes, the SPD membership vote requires the participation of 20 percent of party members for the results to be valid, which, according to the party, was already achieved on Monday.

AfD politician's former employee charged with espionage

The Federal Prosecutor's Office charged a former employee of the AfD politician Maximilian Krah and an alleged accomplice with espionage for a Chinese intelligence service, DPA reported on Tuesday.

The man is said to have repeatedly passed on information about activities in the European Parliament and spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany. In addition the man, named as Jian G., had collected information about leading AfD politicians.

According to the authorities, Jian G. - who is a German citizen - had worked for the Chinese intelligence service since 2002.

He was arrested in Dresden in April 2024 and was accused having procured more than 500 documents, including some classified as "particularly sensitive".

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

At the end of September, German federal police also arrested a Chinese woman who worked for a logistics service company at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

She is said to have passed on information about flights, cargo and passengers to the former Krah employee - allegedly with a focus the transport of armaments and people connected to a German arms company.

The woman is also suspected of being an intelligence agent. Both have been in custody since then.

The Dresden Higher Regional Court must now decide whether to admit the charges and schedule a trial.

Public prosecutor's office closes investigations into viral Sylt video

Last summer a group of party goers on Sylt island were captured singing right-wing extremist slogans in a video that went viral in Germany.

Der Spiegel reported this week that the public prosecutor's office is largely discontinuing the investigations with proceedings against three defendants being dropped. One suspect is to receive a penalty order.

According to the public prosecutor's office the incident did not qualify as incitement to hatred. The prosecutors said that neither the slogans nor the surrounding circumstances definitively showed "an aggressive disregard and hostility..." against foreigners.

In one case, the proceedings were discontinued because there is an indictment against the accused in Munich for alleged drug offences.

One man from the video, who was accused by many viewers of showing a Nazi salute and pantomiming a Hitler moustache, should pay €2,500 to a non-profit organization as part of the penalty order against him.

FACT CHECK: Are people punished for using Nazi slogans in Germany?

Internet speeds in German schools vary immensely

A recent analysis found that internet speeds in German schools varied immensely between regions, Heise Online reported Tuesday.

Berlin or Düsseldorf are already well supplied with a bandwidth of 1 gigabit per second (Gbit/s), while  schools in Leipzig or Dortmund are still far behind in terms of their network connection.

The analysis, which was based on data from December 2023, suggested that just under two thirds of schools in major German cities had sufficient internet coverage. 

Leipzig was the worst served major city, where slightly less than half of schools had an adequate connection.

In Hanover, Bonn, Hamburg and Bochum between 70 and 80 percent of schools all had reliable internet connections. In Munich, just over 80 percent of schools had good coverage, and in Berlin and Düsseldorf it was over 90 percent.

German consumer morale up as new government to take office

German consumer morale rose heading into May as hopes for economic revival under the incoming government offset worries about the impact of US tariffs, according to a key survey. 

The forward-looking indicator, published by pollsters GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), came in at minus 20.6 points, a rise of 3.7 from the previous month.

It was the second-straight increase for the regular survey of around 2,000 people, although the indicator remained at low levels as Europe's top economy struggles to recover from a lengthy downturn.

US President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught is yet to have a "lasting impact on consumer sentiment in Germany," NIM consumer expert Rolf Bürkl said.

The "negative effects" of US trade policy are "being offset by the conclusion of coalition negotiations and the prospect of a fully operational government," he added.

Conservative Friedrich Merz is set to take over as German chancellor next week at the head of a coalition with the centre-left SPD. Even before taking office, Merz has taken steps towards boosting the stumbling economy, which shrank for the past two years.

The consumer survey highlighted in particular a weakening in the tendency to save, indicating a brightening climate.

But whether this continues in the months ahead, "remains to be seen and certainly also depends on how the trade conflict between the United States and the rest of the world develops," Bürkl said.

With reporting by Imogen Goodman, DPA and AFP