Germany has to become independent – the situation in the morning

Love Readers,

Security policy is in Germany And all of Europe is a sensitive topic. Since the early 2000s, there have been specifications of how much percent of your economic output should be defended by NATO partners. Very few countries adhered to this two percent specification, relying on the United States. Then Russia attacked Ukraine. After a long struggle, Germany finally reached the two percent goal last year. The new Foreign Minister Johann WadePhul (CDU) is pressing out with a new target value. There was applause from NATO. In the meantime, trouble is waiting in Berlin at home.

At the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Antalya, WadePhul was behind the demand of US President Donald Trump to increase defense spending by 2032. You can see that as a try to please Trump-or to emancipate yourself militarily.

In any case, this advance is not insignificant for Germany, after all, five percent of the economic output would be a sum of more than 200 billion euros. This corresponds to approximately half of the entire federal budget from last year. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) has to see exactly where he can invest money anyway and where Germany has to save. What WadePhul’s push means for the country and why Berlin grumbles, the political colleagues from the capital office in the podcast “5-minute talk” analyzed:

Foreign Minister’s advance may sound rigorous, but Germany and the Europeans are probably not much left in the end. Since Donald Trump’s re -election it has been clear that the EU can no longer rely solely on the support of the United States. She has to assert her own position in the world and the question of its own defense ability is not insignificant in times.

Incidentally, this topic is also concerned at the summit meeting of the European political community. France’s President Emmanuel Macron launched the format. This year it takes place for the sixth time. Not only the EU countries, but also the United Kingdom, will participate in several Caucasus and Balkans.

Yesterday one of the last Holocaust survivors was buried. Margot Friedländer had made and survived the horrors of the Shoa as a young girl. She died last week at the age of 103. Friedländer will be remembered – as a voice for humanity and community, against hate and forgetting.

However, it is also a reality that they were eliminated from a world in which hatred and agitation become socially acceptable again. In the minorities can also be outlawed and threatened in Germany. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, for example, has been listed since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 in the report from last year. The fact that police officers patrol in front of Jewish institutions such as synagogues or schools is part of the normal cityscape – in Hamburg, in Bremen, in Berlin and also elsewhere.

Hundreds of emergency services were also on site at the funeral of Margot Friedländer. The Berlin police.

Sleep again, then it will once again be decided which nation pulls the biggest show – sorry which nation can best sing. 26 countries will compete against each other in the ESC final in Basel on Saturday. Germany is traditionally safe as a member of the “Big Five”. Other countries had to fight for it. In the semifinals, Israel, Greece, Armenia, Malta and Finland qualified for the final round last night.

Now it only means that decorating the living room, preparing finger food and chilling the champagne! Tomorrow evening we start at 9 p.m. If you still need show knowledge about the Eurovision song contest, please visit our live blog.

A pleasant Friday, a nice weekend and have fun at the ESC (if you watch) wish you

Christine Leitner
(News editor)