reading time ~7 mins

Here are 50 things I would suggest to improve life in Germany

Community

1. Move away from integration; where outsiders are forced to adapt to the culture of the locals and move towards inclusion; where changes are made to the systems and institutions to accommodate all participants in the community
2. Make it easier for foreigners to get their qualifications recognised, find employment or start businesses and move towards global languages like English especially in the workplaces
3. Find better solutions to increase sense of communities, help build community centres and groups around causes such as religion, sports, arts, languages, etc. The ones which are there are managed quite poorly and have very limited opportunities
4. Government offices should speak and accept documentation in English
5. The ageing population is growing and there is not enough incentive to have children. Offer better child support and pay appropriate money to mothers/fathers who are raising children. Even if they are not employed, they should still be paid. Raising children is a tremendous undertaking
6. Not enough activities to encourage having and raising children. Restaurants and other social places don’t have enough entertainment options for children
7. Changing schools, daycare, etc for children should be easy. Do not make it impossible for people to move around the country because they have children now. This creates gaps in the labour market which cannot be filled
8. Build more houses and communities. There is not enough supply of housing and prices are skyrocketing in the real estate market
9. Improve eating out options. A lot of restaurants (especially halal) are very poor in quality and service
10. Stop the Know-it-all, everyone is a police officer culture. No one allowed mistakes even once
11. Most homes and apartments are attached with thin walls but neighbours have no patience for noise
12. Dogs should not be allowed everywhere (restaurants, shops, etc)
13. Sports activities like swimming, football, etc are too expensive and not enough options to pay monthly or yearly fees. Most of them should be government sponsored anyway
14. Stop dubbing media and movies into German. Become more international

Economy & Environment

15. Seek solutions to have stronger commodity backing for the Euro currency to stop stealing from people everytime inflation happens. Look to Switzerland or other successful currencies and their models
16. Incentivise companies and individuals to be more innovative and environment friendly. E.g. Energy companies should be allowed to make losses if they are investing/innovating in technology that makes the country carbon neutral and removes dependencies on fossil fuels and foreign countries for importing fossil fuels
17. Encourage and incentivise homeowners and landlords to install green technology and decentralised energy production
18. Encourage SMEs (small and medium enterprises) – Have easier rules for entrepreneurs and passive income. Make interaction with tax authorities easier and in English if possible
19. Become more international and English speaking to encourage tourism. Manufacturing is good, but other sources should also be explored further
20. Review minimum wage and find better solutions for low wage workers, homeless, etc

Health & related services

21. Solve the issue of unavailability of doctors on weekends and evenings
22. Invest more in training & developing healthcare providers, hospitals, institutes, etc
23. Pharmacys should be open all the time. And if they open special ones in the evening and weekends at least don’t charge extra. This is painful for the one who is already feeling sick
24. Doctor appointments are very difficult to get, find ways to incentivise more people to join or immigrate into these roles
25. Daylight saving needs to stop. It’s harmful to health and does not add any value. Choose one time doesn’t matter which and just stick with it

Infrastructure

26. Air conditioning everywhere
27. Fix the poor internet infrastructure especially outside main cities.
28. Remove the oligopoly of internet/telephone providers and their really expensive prices (especially for internet)
29. How to manage the monopolies of airports where you only have one option and if there is shortage of security or baggage staff, everyone suffers. Offer more airports and let them compete
30. Airports use very old technology especially for security checks (still have to take out liquids and notebooks) even though these requirements are obsolete now. Start using advanced computed tomography technology and stop wasting everyone’s time (both staff and travellers) with security checks

e-Commerce

31. Reduce reliance on paper bills and cash
32. Reduce cash payments especially in small shops
33. Improve extremely slow banking and no activity on weekends or holiday period
34. Encourage digital payments and stop charging vendors for having digital payment methods
35. Stop charging fees for using ATMs. Have one network for all ATMs
36. Grocery delivery online needs a lot of improvement (improve minimum order, same day delivery, etc)
37. Food delivery online should be possible to deliver within 30-40 kms radius

Digitalisation 

38. A lot of paperwork – cannot do many things online
39. Interaction with health authorities, government offices, financial institutes, etc should be digitalised as much as possible
40. Find digital possibilities to reduce food waste from grocery stores or restaurants. Nothing should be thrown away
41. Stop sending postal flyers, advertisements, newspapers, etc
42. Change the culture of general resistance to change and trying new things. Digitalisation and innovation are necessary for progress. Need to be more pragmatic and try new ideas for growth

Transport & Parking

43. Stop incentivising automobile industry to make and sell more cars
44. Promote and improve public transport or other sustainable solutions
45. Make public transport cheaper and more frequent
46. Charge for parking per 15 mins not hourly in garages
47. Parking houses have extremely small slots for cars getting taller and wider

Opening Hours

48. Improve opening hours e.g. open shops up to 22:00 and later on weekends or summer
49. Everything should be open on sundays
50. Restaurant, hair salons should not start to clean and close 40-60 minutes before official closing times