That's a weird take, meaningful fines are rare, except for parking/speeding tickets (because it's an easy way for cities to get cash), prison is very rare, you have to really go for the large crimes to not get probation. The one exception is coercive detention ("Beugehaft"), which they hand out instead of fines. It's a dumb concept, but it's also not that common.

I also generally disagree that Germany is capitalist. Most markets are heavily regulated and full of subsidies, taxes are extremely high, and there's a fundamental mistrust of individualism.

> where contracts rule supreme

What, other than a contract that complies with the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, should be more supreme between two parties freely trading with each other?

The weather report? A poem?

I don't get the media spin in the UK. I don't expect Germany to be anything other than capitalist, or as they say "ordoliberal", which is a market with strong state regulation.

Considering their socialist policies started with Bismarck, I think they'll remain. But I think perhaps US-centric media somewhat over-eggs "socialist Europe".