Comment by nicbou
5 days ago
Germany has a tendency to wish something into existence with a law, and stop there. No guidelines, no tools, no enforcement. Often not a thought about feasibility. Nothing past the press release.
Sometimes a law will be in effect for two or three years and virtually no one will even know about it. Recycling electronics in supermarkets? Nope. E-Rechnung mandated for all B2B invoices? In your dreams.
I work at the other end of the spectrum, reducing friction for new immigrants to Germany. I find it especially frustrating. I could explain how things should be, but it would be pointless when reality is far more disappointing.
> Germany has a tendency to wish something into existence with a law
After living here five years I've finally realized the same thing - Germany is the country of Rules, often well-intentioned, but no one actually follows them. It's especially damning when those rules actually are important and would protect regular people esp. around labor and housing, but oops zero meaningful enforcement. Wish we'd have 1/10th the rules but people had to actually follow them