BERLIN — Chinese investors are on a shopping spree in Germany, and in one sector in particular: the legendary Mittelstand — small and mid-sized companies that provide the backbone of Europe’s strongest and wealthiest economy. It may change the culture of a sector that has traditionally been wary of outsiders.

BERLIN — Young Germans increasingly take the European Union for granted. Their voices will become more influential as the deepening euro crisis begins to slow Germany’s prodigious economic growth ahead of elections next year.