Friedrich Merz

  • 3 mins

Germany rejects von der Leyen’s Canada ‘associate’ label

A dispute over whether to call Canada an "associate member" of the European Union is widening the split between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Four diplomats told Politico about the disagreement. Officials in…

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Merz says Ukraine peace impossible without Kyiv, Europe

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday, October 27, that attempts by the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine "can never find solutions without Ukraine." He added that European countries must also take part in any talks,…

Merz interviews Knot, Hernández de Cos for ECB presidency

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has personally interviewed both frontrunners to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank. He met former Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot first and then Pablo Hernández de Cos, the former governor of…

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Merz warns Europe is underestimating Russian threat

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe is being complacent about the danger from Russia. He argued that President Vladimir Putin wants not only to defeat Ukraine but also to weaken democracy across the continent, Bloomberg reported.

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Merz pledges €1.3 billion to Ukraine in surprise Kyiv trip

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made an unannounced trip to Kyiv on Sunday, Oct. 4, and announced more than €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) in new aid for Ukraine. Air raid sirens sounded during the visit, and a Russian drone struck one…

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Russia hits Kyiv bridge again as Merz visits capital

Russia attacked Kyiv's bridges across the Dnipro River for a fourth straight day on Sunday. A drone exploded on the Northern Bridge while vehicles were crossing it, and three of the capital's six road bridges are now partly or fully…

Merz to meet top contenders to succeed ECB’s Lagarde

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet both frontrunners to succeed European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. Spain's Pablo Hernández de Cos and the Netherlands' Klaas Knot will each…

Euro slides to seven-week lows on German political crisis

The euro extended its slide on Tuesday, falling to fresh seven-week lows below 1.1450 against the US dollar as political turmoil in Germany and mounting fiscal concerns in France weighed on the common currency. The EUR/USD pair broke below its…

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AfD wins second German state as Merz vows to stay on

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party projected its dominance over the country's political landscape on Sunday, winning the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania just two weeks after its landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt — a result Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself called…

Merz pushes for hundreds of billions in EU budget cuts

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz used a bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin on Tuesday to reiterate his demand for deep cuts to the European Union's proposed long-term budget, calling for reductions of several hundred billion euros…

European gas prices hit March highs on heatwave, Hormuz crisis

European natural gas prices surged on Monday, with the Dutch TTF front-month contract rising to 59.83 EUR/MWh — up more than 4% from the previous session and 42.83% over the past month — as renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities reignited fears over…

Trump calls US-NATO relationship ‘ridiculous’ ahead of Ankara summit

President Donald Trump escalated his long-running feud with NATO allies on Thursday, calling the United States' relationship with the alliance "ridiculous" and "one-sided" days before the bloc's leaders are set to convene in Ankara, Turkey.

Zelensky calls Germany’s associate EU membership plan ‘unfair’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders in a letter sent late on Friday that a German proposal to grant Ukraine "associate" membership of the European Union was "unfair" because it would leave Kyiv without a voice inside the bloc,…