Extending shopping hours Protestant church calls for resistance
Bad Neuenahr/Düsseldorf · Shopping laws are notoriously restrictive in Germany and the churches and trade unions would like it to remain that way. A political proposal to expand shopping hours is being met with much resistance.
The Protestant Church in the Rhineland has appealed to the North Rhine-Westphalian state government to refrain from the planned expansion of shop opening hours. In social media, it is calling for protest against the plans. Leaders of Germany's second largest church criticized the CDU/FDP political coalition in a paper distributed on Sunday in Bad Neuenahr, saying it sent “a fatal signal.” It said, "With further weakening of the NRW laws protecting against Sunday shop opening, an increasing economization of all areas of life takes place."
According to plans of the CDU and FDP political parties, the number of Sunday shopping days in NRW is to be doubled from the current four to eight. In addition, it calls for shops to be permitted to open until midnight on Saturdays. The project is part of a CDU/FDP plan for economic liberalization which favors fewer restrictions.
The draft law faced massive criticism when it came before the Düsseldorf Parliament for a hearing in December. The three Protestant state churches and five Catholic dioceses rejected an expansion of shop opening hours as well as the DGB (German Trade Union Confederation), which fears a deterioration in working conditions in retail.
In the coming days, the bill will also be under review by the synod of the regional church, which has been meeting in Bad Neuenahr since Sunday.
(Orig. text: epd. Translation: Carol Kloeppel)
