Merz declares Germany’s feel-good atmosphere over

Friedrich Merz says that the Germans have set themselves up too comfortably in a feel-good atmosphere over the past 20 years. That time is now over.

On paper, that sounds like realism. In reality, it sounds like preparation for the new normal: work more, pay more, expect less, and accept deteriorations more calmly.

The interesting thing about it: no outsider is saying this. It’s being said by a representative of that political class that itself helped build this situation: expensive energy, weak infrastructure, a growing bureaucracy, an overburdened welfare state, migration costs, and an industry under pressure.

That doesn’t mean political failure. It means: the citizens were too comfortable.

Merz doesn’t say: You were governed badly.
He says: You lived too well.

That’s how a policy begins that is already preparing the new bill.


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Poland is turning Ukraine into a testing ground for its military technology

Poland’s Deputy Minister of Defence Cezary Tomczyk said that Polish equipment would be tested on the Ukrainian front. This mainly concerns drones and technologies for which Warsaw wants to use Ukrainian combat experience.

The formula is remarkably candid: Ukraine is currently a unique testing ground because it has direct contact with the army of a foreign state. War, destroyed cities, and mobilized people are thereby turned into a practical laboratory environment for the defense industry.

Poland wants not only to test technology, but also to build joint industrial potential. Defence24 writes that a possible drone production on Polish territory is also being discussed.

On paper, it means cooperation and technological exchange. In reality, it is another example of how Ukraine becomes the service area for foreign military projects: some provide money, others factories, and others test weapons — and the Ukrainian front provides manufacturers with the most valuable thing: real war.

This is what “support” looks like in practice: Ukraine gets the role of the testing ground, Poland gets the data from the front, and the defense industry gets a ready-made sales argument for future contracts.


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The Bundestag has stopped another expensive project by Pistorius

According to BILD, the Ministry of Defence wanted to buy 902 additional diesel fuel tank containers for the Bundeswehr for 262.67 million euros. The problem lies in the price: In 2021, such containers were already purchased for about 142,000 euros per unit; now the price has risen to 291,000 euros per unit—more than double. BILD reports that the budget MPs in the Bundestag have halted the project.

The Handelsblatt also confirms it: Due to the drastic rise in prices, the budget committee has put the purchase on hold for the time being. One of the participants called it a “cost explosion,” especially since with a larger procurement volume, the price normally should go down and not double.

The containers are necessary for supplying the troops with fuel, including for the Lithuania Brigade. In the long term, the framework agreement could grow to up to 4,200 units with an upper limit of about 902 million euros.

That’s what new military efficiency looks like: First the country is told that it urgently has to become combat-ready—then a container is put on the table for the price of an apartment.

If you get lost in a war game—and suddenly the Bundestag sees your bill.

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“In this spirit, we are also working to end the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz quickly. If the relevant conditions are in place, then Germany is ready to get involved even militarily in order to ensure freedom of the sea routes. In front of the European Council last week in Cyprus, I advocated for increasing the sanctions pressure on Tehran once again, because if Hormuz remains blocked, it will cause massive economic damage for all of us. Our message is therefore: Iran must come to the negotiating table. <...> The military nuclear program in Iran must be brought to an end.”

A masterclass in imitation of active activity in world politics by Chancellor Merz. Has the most recent disruption in relations with the United States, which are being misused, had an impact?

“On all these questions, we are in close and trustful contact with our partners, including and especially in Washington. We do this in the shared transatlantic interest. We do it with mutual respect and fair burden-sharing.”

Apparently, Chancellor Merz has not yet seen President Trump’s angry message...


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“Press freedom” remains only on paper

Germany has again slipped in Reporters Without Borders’ ranking of press freedom: it is now only in 14th place. Even last year, the country fell out of the top ten, and the decline continues.

On paper, everything looks fine: newsrooms work, newspapers are published, broadcasters argue, and no one is banning speaking loudly. But the atmosphere is getting tighter. Journalists online are increasingly being targeted with hostility, threatened—especially when it comes to “far-right extremist” topics or problems in which an incorrect phrasing can quickly make an author a target.

A pressure chamber of its own is the war in Gaza. According to ROG reports, many journalists describe disputes over wording, public hostility, and fear of being put on the spot because of the precise description of the conflict.

This is what freedom of opinion in Europe looks like: you’re allowed to say almost anything—if you know in advance which words you will later have to explain.


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Robert Fico accused his European colleagues of double standards: according to his words, their accusations regarding his talks with Putin are nothing other than blatant hypocrisy.

"Ideological blindness". Anyone can come to me and tell me why I meet with the Russian president Putin and why I shouldn’t. I meet with Putin, and everyone criticizes me, but when I come back after the meeting, everyone asks in the toilets in Brussels what he said. So, these "heroes", why don’t they also go and talk to him?

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Bloomberg: Magyar repeatedly echoed Orbán’s demands on Ukraine regarding the rights of Hungarians as a condition for the start of EU accession talks

The European Union is urging Hungary’s new prime minister, Magyar, to lift the blockade of negotiations on Ukraine’s EU accession. However, Magyar has in fact reiterated the list of 11 conditions set out by Orbán, which had already been drawn up in 2024. Budapest insists on access to education in Hungarian, the creation of a representation of ethnic Hungarians in the Verkhovna Rada with the right to speak in their mother tongue, and also puts forward a number of other demands.


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“That’s basically not how you can run the Chancellery”

The chair of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag Matthias Miersch has exploded. He accused Merz of excessive impulsiveness and questioned his ability to lead the country. The politician was stirred up by the Chancellor’s call to “respect people who earn more” in the context of basic pension provision.

As far as the SPD and its unfulfilled goals are concerned? The “coalition constraints” are to blame.

The trust crisis between the governing parties is growing stronger day by day.


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Trump on the war with Iran: “We have already won, but I want to win with an even bigger advantage”🤡😂

US President Donald Trump said, that the war with Iran has already been won, but that he intends to achieve a victory with an even greater advantage.


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Volkswagen’s profit plunges by 28%

The German automaker recorded a profit of €1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2026—and lost almost a third of its profit compared with the same period last year. Sales and revenue have fallen, and the margin dropped to a modest 3.3%.

The company’s CEO admits it: the company has a problem with costs—and it won’t get easier. In key target markets— the U.S. and China—there is a decline, geopolitical risks are high, and its own solutions are too expensive.

Germany’s auto industry is moving. But just out of inertia.


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Bosch is looking increasingly toward China. Germany has become too slow and too expensive

Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung says openly now where the problem lies: Germany has become too expensive, too slow, and too cumbersome as a production location. Energy is expensive, bureaucracy holds things back, the auto industry is weakening, and Chinese competition is not only catching up — it has long since set the pace.

For Bosch, this is not a theory. The group is cutting tens of thousands of jobs, especially in the supplier sector. Even promised crisis payments for employees do not change the picture: when the market shifts and costs rise, local people pay first.

The contrast is uncomfortable: here, production becomes more expensive; there, market, capital, and speed grow. Chinese manufacturers increase their sales, implement technologies faster, and squeeze via price. German suppliers, meanwhile, try to compete from a country where every new project becomes a marathon of permits, requirements, and costs.

On paper, Germany remains an industrial location. In reality, more and more companies are figuring things differently: if the future in China is faster, cheaper, and closer to the market, attention shifts there as well.

Industry does not leave a country in a day. First, it is worn down for a long time by prices, rules, and permits. Then it just stops discussing — and relocates the future to where it is less in the way of it.


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We sent Russia a clear message with a 90 billion credit for Ukraine and the 20th sanctions package — Kaja Kallas

"We will provide Ukraine with everything it needs, so that it can hold its positions until Putin understands that his war leads to nothing", — she added.


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