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Friedrich Merz — page 3

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Vertrauensfrage à la Merz

Friedrich Merz steht massiv unter Druck. Gibt es nach den anstehenden Wahlen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern eine indirekte Vertrauensfrage im CDU-Präsidium? Maximilian Stascheit und Rasmus Buchsteiner analysieren, wie Merz mit Themen wie Spritpreisen und Rentenreform in die Offensive gehen will und warum er eine New-York-Reise absagt, um die CDU-Ministerpräsidenten auf seinen Kurs einzuschwören. In Straßburg hält Kommissionspräsidentin […]

POLITICO EuropePOLITICO Europe•Maximilian Stascheit16 Sept

Firewall compromised: has Friedrich Merz blown ‘democracy’s last shot’?

Many fear chancellor is wrong man for the job at a time when Germany’s defences against far right are crumbling A cataclysm. A 9.0 earthquake. A five-alarm fire. A bitter rejection of Germany ’s joyous reunification three decades ago, and a threat to the democratic postwar order. Sizing up the repercussions of last weekend’s win for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in the former communist state of Saxony-Anhalt, German commentators expressed a sense of doom, panic and helplessness in the political establishment. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Deborah Cole in Berlin12 Sept

Emirates secures Berlin flights as UAE pledges €40 billion investment in Germany

Germany and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to revitalise their strategic partnership following talks in Berlin between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The cooperation will cover security, defence, trade, energy, climate, technology, digitalisation and transport. The UAE plans to invest an additional €40 billion in Germany, more […]

Aviation24.beAviation24.be•André Orban11 Sept

Drei Szenarien für einen Kanzlertausch

Neun Tage vor den Wahlen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Berlin schrillen im Konrad-Adenauer-Haus die Alarmglocken. Angesichts historisch schlechter Umfragewerte analysieren Rixa Fürsen und Hans von der Burchard die politische Zukunft von Friedrich Merz. Im Raum stehen drei konkrete Szenarien für eine mögliche Machtablösung. Vom freiwilligen Rücktritt bis zum konstruktiven Misstrauensvotum. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview stellt sich der CDU-Spitzenkandidat […]

POLITICO EuropePOLITICO Europe•Rixa Fürsen11 Sept

Europe’s fighter jet plans are in disarray. What happens next?

While the UK and Italy are making progress, France and Germany’s joint venture came to nothing, and the prospect of more countries pulling together seems way off When the former European Central Bank president and Italian prime minister Mario Draghi laid out a plan for Europe to catch up economically with the US and China, collaborating on defence was one of the prescriptions. No more should each country in Europe try to make its own version of a boat, tank or jet but instead share costs and technologies between allies. Europe appears to have fallen at the first hurdle. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, were forced to cancel the joint future combat air system in June, after fraught efforts to work together since 2018. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Jasper Jolly8 Sept

Germany: Confront UAE Role in Sudan, Repression at Home

Click to expand Image Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UAE's President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan during a work lunch as part of the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France, on June 16, 2026. © Ammar Abd Rabbo-Pool/SIPA/2606161433 (Sipa via AP Images) (Berlin, September 8, 2026) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and other senior officials should publicly call out the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record and its role in regional conflicts when they meet President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Berlin on September 10, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. “The German government’s lack of will to publicly address the UAE’s devastating role in Sudan is deeply troubling,” said Philipp Frisch, Germany director at Human Rights Watch. “Germany led the way for robust UN investigations into atrocities in Sudan, and hosted a major conference in Berlin on the issue earlier this year. This makes its failure to address the UAE’s harmful role in Sudan all the more jarring, effectively providing a free pass for future abuses.” The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, which Germany helped establish in 2023, published a report on September 1, 2026, documenting the UAE’s support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the warring parties in the conflict for control of Sudan since April 2023. The report concluded that the RSF was responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and abuses the UN investigators found to bear “hallmarks of genocide.” UN investigators concluded that “individuals and entities operating from, registered in, or linked to the United Arab Emirates played a significant role in networks involved in the recruitment, financing, transportation and deployment of foreign military contractors and the provision of military-related support benefiting the Rapid Support Forces.” The UAE has denied these allegations. In a May 2026 report, Human Rights Watch concluded that the Abu Dhabi-based security company, Global Security Services Group had since 2024 hired hundreds of Colombian private military contractors deployed to Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces. Private military contractors were in El Fasher, North Darfur’s capital, in October 2025, when the RSF took over the city and committed widespread atrocities. Human Rights Watch has urged Germany and other EU member states to investigate the role of the Global Security Services Group and its CEO, Mohamed Hamdan al-Zaabi, with a view to adopting targeted sanctions against them. Human Rights Watch has also urged the EU countries to adopt an EU-wide arms embargo against the UAE and publicly denounce its assistance to the Rapid Support Forces. Human Rights Watch has long documented extensive repression by the UAE at home against dissent, widespread restrictions on free expression and association, and serious abuses against migrant workers, including during the regional conflict with Iran. Emirati authorities have targeted dissidents, activists, and critics through prosecutions and lengthy prison sentences. In 2025, UAE courts confirmed the unfair conviction of 83 human rights defenders and dissidents in the country's second-largest mass trial. Among those convicted, the prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor has been detained since 2017 and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in retribution for his human rights work. News organizations have reported that Germany and the UAE are expected to announce a major investment partnership during the upcoming visit. The visit will also include meetings with German arms manufactures and a state banquet. Germany's efforts to strengthen economic and security relations with the UAE should not come at the expense of addressing serious human rights concerns within the country and its role in abuses in armed conflicts, Human Rights Watch said. “How can German leaders keep a straight face when they roll out the red carpet for bin Zayed and boost security cooperation with the UAE, while the Emirates fuels atrocities in Sudan,” Frisch said. “Germany should make it clear that it stands ready to sanction UAE entities transferring arms and fighters to assist repression in Sudan, and should call for the release of Ahmed Mansoor and other unjustly jailed critics.”

Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch•Human Rights Watch8 Sept