In a letter dated July 11, and signed by 120 politicians, journalists, artists, and others, signatories urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to stand up for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange when visiting US President Joe Biden in Washington later this month. Among those appealing to Merkel ahead of what will …
Read More »Auf wiedersehen, Frau Merkel… you will not be missed by many of us in Britain
Merkel has been visiting Britain for the last time as Chancellor, meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson at his country residence, Chequers. No doubt Johnson had a number of issues on the agenda, most particularly her insistence on Brits being banned from travelling to Europe, and the Northern Ireland Protocol. However, …
Read More »Merkel and Macron to propose revival of EU-Russia relations & meeting with Putin – reports
French and German diplomats “wrongfooted” other EU member states at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday by proposing to invite Putin to a summit with the bloc’s leaders, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing “people with knowledge of the discussions.” According to FT, Merkel wants to revive EU relations …
Read More »Denmark helped NSA spy on Merkel & other European leaders, new reports reveal, as Snowden says Biden was ‘deeply involved’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank Walter-Steinmeier are among those who were spied on by the NSA with the cooperation and help of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE), according to the European media investigation. The US spying on not only its own citizens, but also leaders in foreign …
Read More »Merkel opposes Biden’s call to waive Covid-19 vaccine patent protections, as Spain says proposal ‘not enough’
“The limiting factor for the production of vaccines are manufacturing capacities and high quality standards, not the patents,” a spokesperson for Merkel said Thursday, according to Bloomberg. “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and this has to remain so in the future.” US Trade Representative Katherine …
Read More »Merkel’s party bigwigs back chair Armin Laschet to run for chancellor after competing bid from head of Bavarian sister party
The CDU committee convened in Berlin on Monday to discuss who should run from the party in the September general election. Its chairman, Armin Laschet, received overwhelming support from the party top brass, local media reported. The nod of approval pours cold water on the ambition of Markus Soeder, who …
Read More »Merkel backs EU’s joint vaccine procurement model despite complaints that European nations don’t have enough Covid jabs
Speaking on Thursday, Angela Merkel praised the work of German vaccine developers in the global effort to inoculate people against Covid-19, but said it was right that Germany did not go it alone and, instead, worked with EU partners to ensure equitable supply across the bloc. “It was right to …
Read More »‘End of Merkel’s era’ or ‘show of strength’? German politicians split over chancellor’s U-turn on Easter lockdown
Merkel “had no choice” but to pull the plug on the restrictions after facing protests from the public, her political opponents and even her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Maximilian Krah, a European Parliament member for Alternative for Germany (AfD), told RT. “Her politics on Covid has completely failed. …
Read More »Calls for Merkel to face vote of no confidence after embarrassing U-turn on Covid-19 Easter lockdown
Members of the Bundestag could soon be asked to vote on whether the chancellor has their support after a number of eager politicians jumped to capitalize on a rare case of an admitted misjudgment by the country’s long-standing leader. On Wednesday, the leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Christian …
Read More »‘My mistake alone’: Merkel cancels Germany’s draconian Easter lockdown after facing widespread resistance
In a video call on Wednesday, Merkel told state premiers that she was dropping the five-day lockdown, which would have closed all businesses, with supermarkets only permitted to operate for one day during the period. The planned restrictions also prohibited private gatherings of more than five adults from two different …
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