Update from Berlin #1

We are happy to announce that we have started a new series: Update from Berlin. On a weekly basis our senior consultant Florian von Gierke will present you a brief overview of the agenda of political Berlin. In our first episode we start with lighter content in time for the Easter break. If you don’t want to miss anything subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Script [full version]:

Welcome to our inaugural episode of „Update from Berlin“. Our format to provide you a glimpse into what is going on in German politics. We’ll use this first episode to primarily give you the who and the what on this new format. However, we do have an actual update – so be sure to stick around.

Who?

So “who”? My name is Florian von Gierke. I’m a Senior Consultant here at elfnullelf and will be the primary host of “Update from Berlin”. elfnullelf is a German public affairs and communications consultancy. We’re located just five minutes by foot from the Bundestag and that’s also where our name comes from. See: the Bundestag has a unique zip code: eleven – zero – eleven or elf null elf.

What?

What? Hopefully every week we’ll update you on a couple of initiatives being discussed in Berlin – as well as the federal states and Europe. Will we manage to squeeze everything into each video? Certainly not. So if there’s anything you’re missing. Any topic you’d like us to monitor. Let us know.

With that out of the way, here’s some actual content – though this week is light, given the upcoming Easter break.

Cannabis legislation

Federal Health Minister Lauterbach is expected to present his draft law on Cannabis Legalization “soon”. It will be interesting to see how he manages to make everyone happy. Especially the Greens and the Free Democrats are pushing for Legalization, not just decriminalization. But there are some EU and international law hurdles he’ll have to overcome. Current rumor: Germany will start a scientific trial, which would satisfy the EU and UN legal requirements. However, it also means Germany won’t actually fully legalize. We will see.

That’s it for this week. We’ll likely skip next week due to Easter slowing everything down here.

Again: Should there be anything you’d like us to cover, any topic you’d like us to keep an eye on, or anything we can be of assistance to you with: Please let us know. You can reach me at vongierke@elfnullelf.de.