Monday's top story:Â Health insurance organisation warns of higher contribution rates
The umbrella organisation of health insurance funds in Germany has warned that contribution rates will increase if the government does not implement another savings package in 2026.
"If there are no serious and far-reaching reforms next year, then an average contribution rate of 18 percent, including supplementary contributions, is already looming in 2027," said Oliver Blatt, CEO of the organisation, speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) on Sunday.
"This is unacceptable for both those paying contributions and the economy," Blatt said. "The small savings package is far from sufficient," he continued, calling for health minister Nina Warken to take further action "immediately".
READ ALSO: Statutory insurance companies announce contribution hike in the new year
"If nothing happens, we will sink deeper and deeper into debt," he warned.
Contrary to Warken's promises, Blatt anticipates that the average supplementary contribution will increase to "at least" 3.1 percent, from 2.9 percent currently. This means the total contribution rate will rise to 17.7 percent from 17.5 percent.
According to comparison portal Verivox, 31 of Germany's 72 health insurance funds in Germany will be demanding higher contributions from their members for 2026.Â
Deutsche Bahn to invest more than €23bn in network in 2026
Deutsche Bahn is planning to invest more than €23 billion in modernising the rail network next year, more than ever before," Philipp Nagl, head of DB InfraGo, the railway company responsible for infrastructure, told DPA.
"More than half of the money is going into the existing network... The remaining funds are going toward digitalisation, new construction and expansion, small and medium-sized projects, stations and a number of smaller issues," he said.
This year alone, the railway company has invested around €19 billion in upgrading its rail infrastructure, which is considered outdated and overburdened.
READ ALSO: LISTED - The big changes for travel in Germany in 2026
"If we continue investing in the existing network at this level, the network can steadily improve," said Nagl.
In 2025, Deutsche Bahn had a total of approximately 26,000 construction sites; next year, this number is expected to rise to 28,000.Â
Despite the substantial investments, the network remains in poor condition and the punctuality of long-distance trains is at a record low.
AfD representatives to be allowed to attend Munich Security Conference 2026
After a two-year ban, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will again be represented at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in 2026, marking a clear change of course by conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger and the MSC foundation council.
The MSC, considered the world’s most important security-policy forum, will take place from February 13th to 15th 2026 at Munich’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof, again drawing numerous heads of state, government leaders and foreign and defence ministers.
READ ALSO: German far right founds new youth wing in face of protests
AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel has not yet received an invitation, though organisers stress the invitation process is ongoing.
Ischinger’s decision reverses the line of his predecessor Christoph Heusgen, who had excluded AfD and later BSW representatives after they walked out of a Bundestag speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
CSU parliamentary leader Alexander Hoffmann had urged maintaining the AfD ban, citing the party’s ties to Russia and China as a security risk.
Row deepens over vanished river wave in Munich
A row over the disappearance of a famous river surfing wave in Munich escalated on Sunday as authorities removed a beam inserted over Christmas to recreate the attraction.
The Eisbach wave on a side branch of the Isar River had been a landmark in the Bavarian city since the 1980s but it vanished in October after annual cleanup work along the riverbed.
Activists had placed a beam in the water early on December 25 to partially recreate the wave, according to German media reports, and hung a banner above the water that read "Merry Christmas".
But a spokesman for the Munich fire service told AFP the "installation was removed" on Sunday at the request of city authorities.
Activists have made several attempts to reinstate the wave in the city's Englischer Garten park since October -- only to see them reversed.
Access to the wave reopened in July after being cut off for several months earlier this year after the death of a 33-year-old Munich woman who became trapped under the surface while surfing at night.
Rain and cloud forecast for New Year's Eve in Germany
With reporting by AFP, DPA and Tom Pugh
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