The sunny weather is here, and so is the season of public holidays! There are big changes for Germany in May 2025, here’s everything you need to know.
May will kick off with a public holiday, Tag der Arbeit (May Day or Labour Day), which will take place on May 1. The holiday is recognised across all German federal states, and is typically marked with demonstrations for strengthening workers’ rights, street parties, maypole erections, bonfires and dancing.
Berliners will be lucky enough to get an extra public holiday this month. To mark 80 years since the Allies defeated the Nazis, the federal state will recognise May 8 as a one-off public holiday. The holiday will be bookended with a “theme week” of events from May 2 to 11, including exhibitions, readings, theatre productions and talks.
May’s third public holiday is Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt) on May 29, which is recognised in all federal states. Ascension Day marks the day Jesus ascended into heaven, having spent the 40 days after his resurrection travelling and preaching with his disciples. It is also Father’s Day in Germany.
Germany’s new CDU/CSU-SPD coalition is due to take office in May. The coalition announced the details of its agreement on April 9 and, on April 28, incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced which CDU/CSU politicians had been appointed to seven ministry positions.
The SPD will announce which of its members have been appointed to ministry positions on May 5, before the coalition officially takes office on May 7.
Germany’s already strict waste disposal rules are set to get stricter. From May 1, 2025, residents across all federal states will have to dispose of their organic waste (Biomüll) more carefully, or risk a fine of up to 2.500 euros.
Currently, all households in Germany must separate their rubbish into yellow (cans, cartons and plastic), blue (paper and cardboard) and brown (organic waste) bins, alongside throwing away glass at glass recycling points. Until now, disorganised disposers could be fined a maximum of 1.500 euros.
There is a certain margin of error allowed for accidentally sorting rubbish into the wrong bin. Under the new rules, if rubbish collectors find that more than 3 percent of the contents of an organic waste bin is non-organic waste, the responsible household could face a fine.
From May 1, 2025, anyone in Germany who is renewing their photo ID, such as a residence permit, Personalausweis or passport, through their local citizens' office (Bürgeramt), will have to submit a biometric photo digitally rather than bringing a printed biometric photo to their appointment.
The news rules are a little complicated, so if your documents are due for renewal, it's best to check out our guide.
Another change from May 1: public transport users in Berlin who are caught purposefully blocking the doors of a U-Bahn, tram or bus will risk a fine of 50 euros.
According to local transport association, the BVG, U-Bahn doors are blocked around 200 times per month, causing timetable disruptions and damage.
People living in Germany will soon have more options if they want to change their name after getting married. Until now, both partners could keep their own names, or one partner could take the other partner’s surname.
From May 1, married couples will also be able to create a new joint double-barrel name, with or without a hyphen.
Even if they just opt for one of their names, they could name any children a double-barrelled version of their now shared name and the other “maiden name”. If they have more children, all the children would have this double-barrelled name.
After launching in 2003, Skype is set to go offline on May 5, 2025. The chat and video calling service will no longer operate.
Until then, it is possible to migrate any Skype accounts to Microsoft Teams.
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