Germany

German citizens still possess the world’s most powerful passport, according to new research, the 12th annual edition of the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, which is produced in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The ranking takes into account how many countries can be visited without applying for a visa. German passport holders can travel to 176 out of a possible 218, while Britons can visit 173; for the fourth year in a row, it has been crowned “world’s most powerful passport.”

The UK topped the 2015 rankings, alongside Germany, but ceded that spot after several countries relaxed visa restrictions to the latter. It was leapfrogged by Sweden last year and now lags behind Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain and the US.

The number of cross-border workers commuting to Switzerland for jobs has risen by more than a quarter since 2011, the Swiss statistics office (BFS) said on Thursday.

At the end of 2016, 318,500 cross-border workers were active in Switzerland, an increase of 11,300 over the previous year. Lake Geneva (37.2%), northwest Switzerland (22.8%) and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino (20.2%) remain top destinations for commuters from across the border. In the same five-year period the total number of working people in Switzerland (including residents and non-residents) rose by 7.8%, to 5.1 million.

Germany completed the transfer of $13 billion in gold reserves from New York to Frankfurt, the Bundesbank announced on Thursday. The transfer is one step in a plan developed by Germany’s central bank in 2013 that aims to repatriate half the gold reserves it keeps abroad during the Cold War. The final transfer is expected from Paris later this year, completing the project three years ahead of schedule.

Stashed away at the height of the Cold War in safe havens well out of Moscow’s reach, the 3,378-tonne, 120 billion-euro gold stockpile has become a symbol of Germany’s economic ascent and a guardian of its stability. Germany is not bringing home its gold bullion in response to concerns about President Trump’s monetary policy, officials said.

Germany reported a new record trade surplus in 2016, official data showed Thursday, exporting €253 billion more than it imported.

Europe’s biggest economy exported goods worth nearly €1.21 trillion ($1.29 trillion) last year, 1.2% more than in 2015, the Federal Statistical Office said. Imports rose to €954.6 billion, a 0.6% increase.
Both exports and imports broke previous records set in 2015. The statistical office said that Germany’s current account surplus climbed to €266 billion from €252.6 billion.

The former CEO of Volkswagen Martin Winterkorn will receive, as of 2017, a pension of approximately € 1.2 million per year, or € 3,100 per day, despite the dieselgate, as reported today by the German newspaper Bild.
The Winterkorn contract, forced to step back because of emissions scandal that ran over the Vw in the US and then in Europe, is officially expired at the end of 2016, and former top manager, who has 69 years, has entitled to a hefty pension.

German airline Lufthansa plans to hire more than 3,000 new staff in 2017, most of them flight attendants, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Lufthansa Group airlines – Austrian, Swiss and Eurowings – are hiring more than 2,200 staff in total, it said. Lufthansa Technik is planning to recruit 450 new staff. 1,400 new jobs will be offered in Frankfurt and Monaco. 500 persons will work at Swiss, 200 at Eurowings and 100 at Austrian Airlines.

Lufthansa cabin crew and pilots have gone on strike several times over the last few years as the airline battles to reduce costs. Its cabin-crew union UFO said last month the latest talks over pay and working conditions had failed.

Lufthansa pilots in Germany have said they will extend strike action again until Saturday, this time targeting long-haul flights in a long-running pay dispute.The dispute has grounded tens of thousands of passengers and cancelled hundreds of flights.

By the end of Friday, an estimated total of 315,000 passengers will have been affected. Lufthansa’s executive management board member Harry Hohmeister said it was "not possible" to meet the pilots’ demand for a bigger wage rise.

Volkswagen AG is expected to announce a sweeping restructuring of its embattled VW passenger car brand that includes up to 30,000 job cuts over the next five years and a shift toward electric vehicles and new digital mobility businesses, a source told Reuters Friday.

The announcement is expected to come later in the day at a news conference. It foresees €3.7 billion ($3.9 billion) in annual savings at VW’s namesake brand, which will involve 23,000 job cuts in Germany alone, another source said.