This concern was only too understandable, given that during the last elections Leipzig seemed to be literally drowning in a deluge of election posters. Many poles were covered from top to bottom. Some parties covered entire streets with their posters. And many posters were already lying torn to shreds on the grass after just a […]
Just a few years ago, the city council was still debating whether Leipzig should introduce a tourist accommodation tax or not. Now, everyone is pleased that the city can raise additional funds from it, which in turn benefit tourism. But who exactly? From the city’s point of view, the City Council’s Economic Committee has sufficient […]
Ultimately, it always comes down to acceptance. This is true of the energy transition too. All the more so when two districts of Leipzig – Hartmannsdorf and Knautnaundorf – are particularly affected within their local areas, as it is primarily here that Leipzig’s wind power capacity is being expanded. They then find themselves with significantly […]
It was to be expected that there would be a commotion over this agenda item at the council meeting on 2 July. Die-hard patriarchs simply cannot help but shout out and vociferously express their old-fashioned displeasure. They have internalised patriarchy. And so it did indeed get noisy in the city council when the motion ‘Proposal […]
A special milestone for the Leipzig Volunteer Pass: in June 2026, the 6,000th Leipzig Volunteer Pass was awarded. The anniversary pass was presented to Luise Popp, who has been volunteering as a coach at Roter Stern Leipzig for many years. The award recognises her long-standing commitment to girls’ football and voluntary work in Leipzig. The […]
On 2 July, a question was also raised at the council meeting regarding the call that the Left Party group has been persistently raising since August 2025. And, in fact, Torsten Bonew, the councillor responsible for finance, had intended to provide a comprehensive answer to this question this July. However, since his department has been […]
At the council meeting on 2 July, there was a minor first. Until now, when it came to questions from the city council, it had generally been the political groups themselves who were given the floor and were able to use the time to put further oral questions to the relevant mayors regarding their original […]
On 1 January 2026, the dog licence regulations for Leipzig – which had been adopted in December – came into force. They had been the subject of heated debate, partly because the city had a keen interest in microchipping as many dogs registered in Leipzig as possible, so that tax collection could be carried out […]
Will the “Kino der Jugend” on Eisenbahnstraße now falter at the final hurdle due to German bureaucracy and a Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) who insists on sticking to deadlines, after a solution to the Gordian knot had seemed to be in sight this spring? For it was then that the […]
Point 32 in the reform package put forward by the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition is likely to herald the end of the Freedom of Information Act (IFG) in its current form. Once again, people’s access to information about government and administrative actions is set to be made more difficult. This will also have implications for […]
The debate over a ship railway between Lake Cospuden and Lake Zwenkau has taken a new turn: Whilst the Grüner Ring Leipzig is pressing ahead with the project – costing around 93 million euros – as a potential building block for the development of tourism in the Leipzig Neuseenland, all the major nature conservation organisations […]
The Left Party had got off to such an enthusiastic start with its ‘rent profiteering’ app. Over 6,000 suspected cases of completely exorbitant rents have already been recorded in Leipzig using the app. It would then, in theory, be straightforward to report these cases to the city council, which would establish the breach of tenancy […]
The coalition’s reform package, presented with great fanfare, comprises a total of 34 points; one point in particular is the subject of much debate, and we have already written about it. In addition to the abolition of sick notes issued by telephone and the obligation to take sick leave from the first day of illness, […]
On 1 July, the City Council did not manage to get through all the items on the agenda. There were still some important items left, which then had to be carried over to the continuation of the meeting on 2 July. And once again, the discussion centred on the city’s financial difficulties – for which […]
How long will this heatwave actually remain in the memories of the people of Leipzig? On 1 July, it was still cool. Even the Leipzig City Council was delighted that the first LVB trams were running again at all, after the local transport company had been forced to suspend all services over the weekend of […]
At the council meeting on 1 July, zoo director Dr Jörg Junhold was also sitting on pins and needles amongst the audience. The issue at stake was whether he would be able to complete his life’s work – the ‘Zoo of the Future’ – by 2028 at the latest, when Leipzig Zoo celebrates its 150th […]
Ever since Friedrich Merz appeared on camera on 2 July and announced: “We are abolishing sick notes issued over the phone and introducing the requirement to submit a certificate of incapacity for work from the first day of illness”, there have been many conflicting signals. There is talk of “sensible solutions” from Klingbeil and of […]
In fact, Leipzig City Council had already sent a clear signal back in March against the plans of Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s State Secretary for Culture, to simply scrap the fifth extension to the German National Library in Leipzig. Even though it is urgently needed to house the books of the next 30 years. Weimer’s announcement […]
Pupils from the Leibniz-Gymnasium on Nordplatz also took the opportunity on 1 July to attend the council meeting as guests. This was because the agenda for that day included an item that was of great interest to them: when would it finally be their school’s turn for refurbishment? The Left Party had tabled a question […]
Is it all over? Or can the state government’s decision still be overturned – so that, instead of replacing the Agra Bridge on the B2 with a new structure in the 100-year-old park, a tunnel or underpass is built? This was the subject of a BSW motion at the council meeting on 1 July. A […]
One is allowed to dream, after all. Even city councillors are allowed to dream – of a beautiful, peacefully situated villa in Machern, where one can not only sleep soundly but also hold party group retreats in a seclusion from city life that is otherwise hard to find in Leipzig. And so it came as […]
Who, in fact, has manoeuvred the city into such a quandary that there is suddenly a heated public debate not only about whether the small wood that has grown up on Capastraße over the last 30 years may be cleared to provide RB Leipzig with new training grounds? It is a question that remains entirely […]
It was not only Left Party city councillor Susanne Scheidereiter who was deeply disappointed when, at the council meeting on 1 July, the latest motion to reduce the city’s impervious surface area was rejected by the council majority. The Greens’ parliamentary group, too, had repeatedly failed with its motions in recent years, even though the […]
Leipzig’s street trees, particularly those planted in recent years, are suffering from the drought; the heatwave of the last few weeks in particular has taken its toll on them once again. The ‘Leipzig gießt’ initiative has been running since 2020, with the aim of saving the street trees. The “Leipzig gießt” app has been available […]
There is a certain irony in the fact that two city councillors – one from the BSW and one from the AfD – have jointly tabled a motion with the misleading title ‘Pilot project: Voluntary driving licence exchange’. The title is misleading because, as you know, old driving licences – the grey and pink ones, […]
Leipzig did indeed purchase the former goods shed at Connewitz S-Bahn station in 2024. However, the city is not alone on the site of the former goods yard. The discount retailer ALDI has acquired its own plot of land there from Deutsche Bahn, on which it plans to build a new ALDI supermarket. However, the […]
That really was something else, and even Leipzig’s city administration rarely manages to take three years to respond to a motion from the city council with its own position. This is exactly what happened with a motion tabled by the Green Party group in April 2023: ‘Enabling temporary and mobile urban green spaces’. After all, […]
More and more households in Leipzig are struggling not only to find an affordable flat, but also – once they have one – to pay their rent. This is made clear even by the 2025 Citizens’ Survey, in which the issue of rent and housing was overwhelmingly identified as the number one problem facing Leipzig’s […]
A town thrives on optimism, on the feeling that things are moving forward and life goes on. But what if the town is financially strangled? Then the town council’s ability to even draft and pass meaningful motions begins to dwindle. Even when – as in the case of the Forced Labour Memorial – the aim […]
Torsten Bonew, the city’s finance councillor, had to bring this item forward as a matter of urgency at the council meeting on 1 July, as it got right to the heart of the matter – the financial situation of the City of Leipzig. It is catastrophic. The 2025/2026 budget has already made this abundantly clear. […]
One could plagiarise a sentence by Friedrich Merz – with a slight tweak. It would then read: “No working population before us has ever had to endure anything like this.” Of course, this only applies to the period after 1950 and to the territory of the former Federal Republic. Such mistrust of the hard-working people […]
Georg-Schumann-Straße is a project that has spanned decades for the city and the LVB. In fact, this main route in north-west Leipzig should have been fully upgraded for modern tram operations long ago. Yet the plans have been repeatedly postponed due to a lack of funding, even though time is running out. In 2027, the […]
With the planned boat route between Lake Cospuden and Lake Zwenkau, the Leipzig Neuseenland region could be facing its next major nature conservation debate. Plans for the Harth Canal have been shelved for cost reasons; a feasibility study now favours a boat railway. Yes, you read that correctly: in future, a railway is to transport […]
It always ends up being a complete fiasco. Yet some investigators in Saxony do not seem to be capable of learning their lesson when it comes to the ‘Centre for Political Beauty’ (ZPS), which repeatedly draws attention to right-wing extremism in the state through high-profile actions. These actions not only annoy the right-wing individuals and […]
If the current federal government gets its way with its pension plans, it will become even harder for many people who have actually reached retirement age to make ends meet. They are already having to get by on meagre pensions. But rather than having to beg the local authorities for help, more and more older […]
On Friday, 26 June, the day had finally arrived, after the completion date had been repeatedly postponed. Even the Department of Urban Development and Construction described it as a “test of patience for local residents and those living nearby”. But now the new Karlbrücke on Industriestraße between Schleußig and Plagwitz has been opened to bicycles, […]
Leipzig has been sweltering in temperatures above 30 degrees for a week now. The city has been getting hotter every day. On Saturday, 27 June, temperatures reached around 40 degrees Celsius. This was far too much for some of the technology installed in Leipzig: several supermarkets had to report a failure of their refrigeration systems […]
On Thursday, over 2,000 people demonstrated in support of preserving the Capa-Wäldchen – known as the ‘Capi’. Among them was the former Saxon Minister for the Environment and Deputy Minister-President, Wolfram Günther (Greens). A native of Leipzig, he has been concerned about the fate of the floodplain forest for decades. “It’s like my living room,” […]
If you’re from Leipzig and visit the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, you might well find a book by the Buchkinder Leipzig on display alongside a Warhol in one of the exhibitions. Yes, Kolumba collects the works of the Buchkinder and lists the association, under ‘Artists’, as ‘monographic focal points that particularly define Kolumba’. The works […]
Leipzig’s environmental policy has always been rather weak in recent years. People were happy to rest on the back of the fine-sounding word ‘compensation’, even though this ‘replacement’ usually took place somewhere else – often even outside the city limits – and therefore did absolutely nothing to benefit biodiversity or climate protection within the city […]
There was no ‘Strack-Zimmermann moment’ at the CDU Leipzig nomination meeting on 23 June. The candidate for the 2027 mayoral election was to be chosen at the Alte Handelsbörse. As announced on 2 June, the district executive committee had proposed Michael Weickert, the parliamentary group leader on Leipzig City Council, and the general meeting endorsed […]
Leipzig’s environmental organisations have called for a demonstration at the Kleinmessegelände on Thursday 25 June. They intend to protest there against the planned sale – and consequently the clearing – of the small, 5.7-hectare woodland on Capastraße, which the city intends to use to provide the RB Leipzig football club with space for new training […]
To make cycling safer and more appealing, Nonnenstraße in Plagwitz will be converted into a cycle route during the week starting Monday 29 June, the Department of Urban Development and Construction has announced. Over a stretch of around one kilometre, between Erich-Zeigner-Allee and Karl-Heine-Straße, it will be signposted and marked accordingly. It will therefore be […]
Perhaps this is the worst possible time. But it comes as no surprise: Germany has been in an economic slump for six years. Money is running short everywhere. Local authorities are now groaning under the weight of massive financial strain. But the downturn is not leaving associations and clubs unscathed either. Leipzig’s environmental organisations are […]
It is certainly not every day that Leipzig’s Finance Councillor, Torsten Bonew (CDU), takes to the streets in protest. Yet, for today’s nationwide day of action by local authorities, he too had come to the market square carrying a protest banner. It’s all about money – or rather, the lack of it. “Leipzig is right […]
There’s a demonstration today. Today, someone who doesn’t usually take to the streets is demonstrating: the city of Leipzig itself. Just like hundreds of other local authorities across Germany, which are being brought to their knees by the mandatory tasks imposed by the federal government and are sliding ever deeper into debt. ‘Local authorities at […]
Following the “Enough is enough!” demonstration on 15 June, nursing staff from Leipzig’s hospitals and trade union representatives from ver.di met with Holger Mann (SPD), the Member of the Bundestag for Leipzig, on 18 June. The trade union’s invitation stated: “We would like to discuss our demands in an open dialogue with Leipzig MPs Holger […]
On 10 June 2026, the city council announced to the public that a 5.7-hectare wooded area on Capastraße was to be sold to the football club RB Leipzig. The club intends to build a training ground there. The woodland is an essential part of the network of habitats linking the northern and southern floodplain forests; […]
Things are set to get interesting at the council meeting on 1 July: will the council administration succeed in its bid to sacrifice the small wood on Capastraße so that RB Leipzig can have the training pitches promised in the agreement and the Kleinmesse can remain at its current site? The council had actually promised […]
The ver.di trade union, Die Linke and the “Leipzig Stands Together” alliance had called for a rally on 15 June at Leipzig’s Naschmarkt, followed by a march to the Volkshaus. By 5.30 pm, the rally venue had already proved too small; participants were packed shoulder to shoulder, though this did nothing to dampen the mood. […]
Perhaps Leipzig City Council needs a new form of “Mayor’s Report”. For years, the council has repeatedly instructed Mayor Burkhard Jung to approach the federal government or the Saxon state government with a clear mandate: challenge regulations that work to Leipzig’s disadvantage and push for change. What the public almost never hears is what, if […]
Jens Spahn, parliamentary leader of the CDU/CSU in the German Bundestag and a self-declared admirer of Donald Trump, said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Is it really wise, as Europeans, given the dependency we have on America, to conduct this debate in this way right now? And the answer is no.” That remark […]
It was hard to escape the impression that the Saxon State Directorate had chosen its timing deliberately: in mid-December, right in the middle of the Christmas rush, it published its general administrative order declaring Lake Cospuden navigable. But environmental organizations have the right to object to such proceedings. The Leipzig-based group Ökolöwe has done exactly […]
Is it actually difficult to classify the US attack on Venezuela? At least Chancellor Friedrich Merz claims this. The current discussion in Germany is, to put it mildly, very strange, ranging from “Finally, dictator Maduro is gone!” to “The US attack on Venezuela, which violates international law, must have consequences!” But does anyone, both in […]
LZ MEDIEN GMBH
Bernhard Göring Straße 152
04277 Leipzig
Das Projekt „LZ TV“ (LZ Television) der LZ Medien GmbH wird gefördert durch die Sächsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien. Diese Maßnahme wird mitfinanziert durch Steuermittel auf Grundlage des vom Sächsischen Landtag beschlossenen Haushaltes.
Aktuelle Kommentare