Germany: Merz vows to build Europe's strongest army

Four Berlin residents facing deportation from Germany for taking part in a pro-Palestinian protest have won a reprieve — for now.

Berlin's administrative court ruled in favor of all four plaintiffs, preventing their removal from the country until their appeals have been heard. 

The four demonstrators — two from Ireland, one from Poland and one from the United States — were served orders last month, instructing them to leave Germany by April 21 or be deported.

The Immigration Office said the deportation orders were related to a pro-Palestinian protest at Berlin's Free University in October 2024. It claimed the four posed a threat to Germany's public safety.

They are accused of criminal acts such as resisting arrest, property damage and disturbing the peace. None of them have been convicted.

In a written statement, the court said that after reviewing the case there were "serious doubts about the substantive legality of the measures" taken by the immigration authorities. 

The activists have accused Germany of "weaponizing migration law."

Criminal and immigration lawyer Alexander Gorski said it is a big victory for his clients

"The court has ruled that the migration authorities acted unlawfully. It's a big win given the erosion of rights in this country. This verdict shows how weak the reasoning of the migration office was," he told DW. 

Police investigations are still ongoing. 

German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported that Benjamin Jendro, a spokesperson for the Berlin police union, called the court's decision on Monday "annoying, but acceptable in a constitutional state."

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has shown every willingness to conduct ceasefire and peace negotiations without preconditions," he said while speaking in the German parliament, known as the Bundestag.

"We now expect Mr Putin to come to the negotiating table," he said.

"Everyone who wants peace in Europe must negotiate now, and the ball is in Mr Putin's court," Wadephul stressed.

The comments come a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would attend talks on the war in Ukrainein Turkey if Putin was also present.

Moscow has not yet specified who will be part of a Russian delegation to be sent to the talks.

The negotiations are scheduled to be held on Thursday in Turkey's most populous city, Istanbul.

Meanwhile, Germany's foreign ministry said Wadephul, will participate in an informal NATO meeting with his counterparts in Turkey on Thursday and will meet his US counterpart Marco Rubio for bilateral talks.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier reiterated Berlin's call for the release of hostages taken into Gaza during the Hamas militant group's October 7, 2023, attack.

"Their fate is an open wound," Steinmeier said of hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

"Germany will not forget them, I will not forget them. Our voice will not be silent as long as they have not returned."

Steinmeier also noted the suffering of the civilian population of Gaza. The Palestinian enclave has been blockaded by Israel for over two months.

Israel announced it would widen its military offensive in Gaza earlier this month.

Since the 2023 terror attack on Israel more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, according to Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza.

Germany's president made the comments while speaking alongside Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog during a visit to Kibbutz Be'eri, which lies some 4 kilometers (nearly 2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

Over 50 people were abducted from the kibbutz on October 7 and 130 were killed.

In total, over 1,200 people, including around 800 civilians, were killed in the attack, and around 240 were taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Six people from Kibbutz Be'eri are thought to be among the dead.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including Germany, the United States and Israel.

Germany's socialist Left Party criticized Chancellor Friedrich Merz over what it described as "cold" social welfare policies.

The Left's leader in parliament, Sören Pellman, accused Merz of "remaining silent on the social crisis in this country."

Pellman said that people in Germany want "a government that deals with people's real problems."

He called for Germany to raise monthly pension payouts from 48% to 53% of the average monthly salary and for the establishment of a minimum pension of €1,400 (around $1,570).

He welcomed a plan presented by Labor Minister Bärbel Bas to include the self-employed and civil servants in the state pension system.

Bas is a member of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are the junior member in Merz's governing coalition.

Pellman also called for a new social housing program as well as for a fund to improve living conditions in states in former East Germany.

Green Party parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge wished the new government success while accusing the new chancellor, conservative Friedrich Merz, of multiple failures.

Dröge said she wanted to be optimistic: "Because this country deserves it."

However, she accused Merz and his conservatives of making false election campaign claims after it abandoned a commitment to not tap into extra borrowing.

Dröge also recalled the joint vote between the conservative CDU-CSU parliamentary group and the far-right AfD on the issue of migration after Merz said he would not work with the party.

"You have broken your word here in the German Bundestag," Dröge said.  Merz has often polarized Germans, Dröge added, saying he had stirred up sentiment against minorities.

"I expect you to be the chancellor of all people in this country. A chancellor, in particular, must be there for all people, especially for the weakest in this country. And that is how we will measure you."

Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel has derided Chancellor Friedrich Merz's as a "second choice chancellor" in the Bundestag, referring to when he suffered a historicdefeat in a first round of voting in parliament his failed first round of elections last Tuesday. 

Addressing Merz, she said: "You will never get rid of this stigma," she added, criticizing the debt package for defense and infrastructure, which was passed with majorities in the old Bundestag.

Weidel also criticized the new federal government's migration policy as inadequate and ineffective. The tightened border controls ordered in recent weeks must be continued "completely and permanently," Weidel said after Merz's government statement. 

"Illegal immigration to Germany and into the German social systems must be reduced to zero," Weidel continued.

Rejections announced by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt should be "only a first step" toward this, Weidel emphasized.

Furthermore, "migration magnets" must be eliminated, the AfD leader demanded, citing the promise of benefits and family reunification.

Weidel accused Merz of being unable to implement his election promises of more repatriations because he was in coalition with the center-left Social Democrats and had submitted to dogma prohibiting mainstream parties from working with the AfD.

The AfD leader said a recently completed report by German domestic intelligence that classified her party as "right-wing extremist" was "arbitrarily and abusively cements this dogma."

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged a tough new migration policy, citing years of uncontrolled immigration and weak labor market integration.

Germany, he said, would remain a country of immigration but with more control, rejections, and returns.

"We have allowed too much uncontrolled immigration, and have enabled too little qualified migration into our labor market — and especially into our social security systems."

Plans include stricter border enforcement, ending certain admissions, and launching a return initiative to countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

At the same time, integration would be supported — especially for well-integrated individuals.

Merz said his government would "make it a priority to ensure that people who remain in Germany can enter the labor market as quickly as possible."

"For well-integrated individuals with tolerated status, who support themselves and speak German, we will create a right to remain."

"Our new migration policy is a sign of responsibility — clear, fair, and oriented toward the welfare of our country."

Merz said his new government would stand by Germany’s and Europe’s climate goals, but that it would adopt new pragmatic approaches.

The central instrument, he said, would be carbon pricing — a market-based monetary cost is applied to greenhouse gas emissions.

However, he said, the revenues from this would not disappear into the federal budget, but be returned directly to businesses and citizens.

"Moreover, we will align our energy policy systematically with affordability, cost-efficiency, and security of supply —  pragmatically, free of ideology, and open to all technologies."

"As a first step, we are cutting electricity taxes. That will bring noticeable relief to everyone—in the short term."

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has unveiled a sweeping economic recovery package, declaring that Germany must overcome an "unprecedented" recession by removing barriers to growth.

"We will do everything we can to put Germany’s economy back on a growth path — by investing and reforming. The two go hand in hand."

"We can once again become a locomotive of growth — one that the world looks upon with admiration."

Merz outlined several core measures:

• Immediate tax relief for corporate investments
• A five-year phased reduction in corporate tax rates
• €150 billion for infrastructure upgrades
• A new Ministry for Digitalization and Modernization
• A 24-hour fast-track for startup registration

He also pledged to repeal the controversial supply chain due diligence law and simplify regulations across sectors. "Let's give businesses and workers more trust, more freedom, and less bureaucracy," Merz said.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz outlined a whirlwind of diplomatic activity in his first week in office aimed at reasserting Germany’s leadership role on the global stage.

He began with a reset in Franco-German relations through talks with President Macron, followed by a symbolic first-day visit to Warsaw.

In Brussels, he pledged to end Germany's habit of abstaining on key EU decisions. 

Merz also made a high-profile joint visit to Kyiv alongside leaders from France, the UK, and Poland, signaling unwavering support for Ukraine.

On transatlantic ties, he emphasized close coordination with the US and revealed talks with US President Donald Trump about halting hostilities in Ukraine.

Reaffirming Germany's commitment to NATO, Merz stated: "We must be able to defend ourselves so that we don't have to. Strength deters aggressors. Weakness invites them."

Merz has been emphatic in framing Russia's war in Ukraine as a direct threat to European peace.

"This terrible war and its outcome will not only determine the fate of Ukraine. Its outcome will determine whether law and justice continue to apply in Europe and the world — or whether tyranny, military violence, and the naked law of the strongest will prevail."

"What is at stake in Ukraine is nothing less than the peace order of our entire continent."

Germany, he said, would reassert its leadership role in Europe, rebuild trust with partners, and back Ukraine unambiguously.

"We are not a party to the war, and we do not intend to become one. But we are also not disinterested third parties or neutral mediators between the fronts. There must be no doubt where we stand: unambiguously on the side of Ukrainians."

Promising the Bundeswehr would become "the strongest conventional army in Europe," Merz pledged sustained investment and a new voluntary national service.

"This is appropriate for the most populous and economically strongest country in Europe. That is what our friends and partners expect of us — indeed, they are explicitly demanding it."

Merz has paid tribute to his predecessor Olaf Scholz for his response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Scholz has been praised for announcing a shift in Germany's approach to its military, boosting defense spending and ending reliance on Russian energy. He later became a key supporter of Ukraine through arms, aid, and EU unity.

Merz addressed Scholz personally: "Your response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine was pioneering — and historic. For that, you have the thanks and recognition of this House and our entire country."

Making his first official address to the Bundestag as Chancellor, Friedrich Merz is laying out an agenda calling for reform, national renewal, and assertive international leadership.

The coalition, he says, will govern under the banner of "Responsibility for Germany."

"We place ourselves jointly in the service of our country and all 84 million of its citizens," said Merz.

"We want to govern in order to move our country forward again under its own power."

Merz's message is likely to echo the coalition blueprint. Here's what he's likely to touch on.

He is likely to place a strong focus on Germany's competitiveness, citing overregulation, high costs, and weak infrastructure as contributing factors to the country's current recession.

Merz is anticipated to unveil reforms and investment plans aimed at restoring growth, cutting bureaucracy, boosting digitalization, and encouraging innovation.

On Ukraine, the chancellor is expected to reaffirm Germany's support and its commitment to Europe's liberal order—rejecting neutrality while stressing deterrence, defense spending, and transatlantic cooperation.

Merz may also advocate for balanced global partnerships, including with the US and China, alongside greater strategic autonomy for Europe.

In line with the coalition agreement, he is likely to outline a pragmatic climate approach that emphasizes affordability and favors incentives over penalties for emissions reductions.

He has signaled support for modernizing labor laws to provide greater flexibility for both employers and workers, as well as updating the welfare state to better reward employment and savings.

On migration, Merz is expected to emphasize stronger border controls and steps to promote faster and more effective integration, in keeping with campaign pledges.

Germany's new chancellor has described the fact that he and his 17 federal ministers have little experience in federal government as a "great opportunity to truly change something in this country."

Merz was speaking at an economic conference of his conservative Christian Democrats on Tuesday evening.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius from the previous center-left government is the only cabinet member who previously served in Germany's federal government.

While Merz was elected Chancellor on May 6th, it took a second round of voting to get him across the line — something that hasn't been necessary in Germany's postwar political history. 

After the bumpy start, Merz is hoping for a speedy implementation of the government's plans for key areas like growth, migration, defense. 

He is likely to stay within the framework of the coalition agreement, but will also likely set some new priorities.

After Merz outlines his policy program in his first statement to Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, his ministers will present their plans to lawmakers one by one until Friday.