Last week, the German Chancellor invited the budgetary committee of the Bundestag to the Chancellor's Office and - not having in mind the symbolic effect - offered them high-grade Italian wines (Prosecco, Gavi white wine from Piemont and Chianti from the Tuscany). One of the CDU members of parliament, Julia Klöckner, used this as an opportunity to point out to the Chancellor that not even a single German wine was offered, although the wine-growers were tax-payers, too, and made high-quality products.
By the way: A faux pas like this would have been inexcusable in France or Italy, and it would certainly have caused trouble there.

The Federal Minister of Consumer Protection, Renate Künast, takes the same line: Right before Easter, she let the German pig keepers know that in the draft of the Pig Keeping Act there is no talk at all of a perfect conversion of the EU directive! Competitive disadvantage is most significantly caused by the considerable increase in the floor needed per animal (an increase by up to 70 % for fatteners!). And a 50 % increase in the lying space, made with less perforated slits, is added to that. Thank God: Humanizing the animals any further, by stipulating that a shower for pigs needed to be installed, was just refused.

But let's come back to the original question: Why don't the politicians like German (s)wines? There is quite a simple answer to that: There is no practical orientation!

Renate Künast at least, the Federal Minister for Consumer Protection, is able to present a self-made drawing of a sow named Berta that she has accepted godparenthood for. Tuscany-Gerd, however, would at best know capybaras and porcupines from the Hanover zoo. Wolfgang Clement, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Employment Secretary, from North-Rhine Westphalia by birth (where they have so many pigs), might know at least a bit about the meaning of the added value of pork. He is happy about 21 billion Euros that are spent by the consumers every year for pork and pork products, as well as about 500,000 employees in the pig industry (which is quite a lot, if you take into consideration that there are more than 7 million jobless people in Germany). And by the way: The Finance Minister, Hans Eichel, does fill his piggy bank with considerable amounts of taxes coming from just this branch of industry. Does he know at all? It is true that palaces may be destroyed by the use of force, but no pig stables are built this way. By now at least, the friendly politician should think: Just hang on a moment! What are we doing? Can we Germans, nowadays, afford at all to go beyond the requirements established by our competitors and in the European neighbouring countries?

The answer to that is stunningly simple: No! We cannot!
For this reason, the ISN demands no more and no less than a perfect conversion of the EU directive.


Only after the last pig keeper has been driven out of the country,
only after the last stable has been closed down,
only after the last ham has been eaten,
only after 300,000 more people have lost their jobs,
only then will you find out that a German Pig Keeping Act cannot be eaten.
(ISN prophecy)