Germany updates: Friedrich Merz in Finland for Nordic summit

German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp said it plans to restructure its remaining three business areas after spinning-off its steel and marine shipbuilding divisions.

"The core of the considerations is to gradually spin off all Thyssenkrupp business areas and open them up to third-party investment," the company said in a statement.

"The goal is to form a focused, agile and restructured industrial group," the company said.

"With this reorganization, the Group is offering its nearly 96,000 employees worldwide a clear future perspective," the company said.

Thyssenkrupp has reported major annual losses for the past two years running and in November last year announced plans to cut about 11,000 jobs at the steel division.

Bavarian Tom Kopke tumbled his way to victory at this year's notorious Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling race held in Gloucestershire, England.

Kopke sped past his competitors to win the coveted 3.6-kilogram (8-pound) Double Gloucester cheese.

"All the people at the top said they were going to steal my title but this is mine," he said. "I worked for this. I risked my life for this. It's my cheese. Back to back."

The women's race was won by 20-year-old Ava Sender Logan who was running in support of the Refugee Community Kitchen —  a group that helps displaced people in northern France and homeless communities in London and Edinburgh.

Read more here.

Germany has said Russian President Vladimir Putin views proposals for peace talks in Ukraine as a "sign of weakness" and has responded by intensifying the war.

"Putin obviously sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness," Merz told public broadcaster WDR. He added that recent diplomatic efforts to end the conflict had been met with harsher military action from Moscow.

Since returning to office, US President Donald Trump has been pushing for direct negotiations at the highest level.

Last week, he suggested the Vatican as a possible host. Italy said Pope Francis was ready to organize such talks, but Russia has cast doubt on the proposal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be "inelegant" for the Catholic Church to mediate between two mainly Orthodox countries.

Merz said Ukraine's Western allies had used every diplomatic avenue available.

"After the last three weeks, no one can seriously accuse us of not having exhausted all available diplomatic means," he said.

Short of "raising the white flag," Merz said, Ukraine's backers had "done everything" they could.

"If even an offer to meet at the Vatican does not get [Putin's] approval, then we must be prepared for this war to last longer than we all wish or can imagine," Merz warned.

Four former Volkswagen executives have been found guilty of fraud in a criminal trial relating to the "Dieselgate" scandal.

The global scandal plunged the Wolfsburg-based carmaker into a deep crisis.

Read more from DW's coverage of the "Dieselgate" fraud verdict here.

The Berlin branch of Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) have passed a motion on protecting Gaza's civilian population and taking steps toward a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The SPD is the junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative-led coalition.

"We don't need lip service, but concrete measures," the resolution read. "Germany must act."

"Hamas committed a heinous massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023," it said, adding that 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken into Gaza as hostages in Hamas' attacks on southern Israel.

"In response, Israel has destroyed large portions of Gaza's civilian infrastructure, killing over 50,000 civilians," it said, adding that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "catastrophic."

What else does the motion call for?

The text called for the release of all hostages from Gaza, a ceasefire agreement and the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory.

It also urged Germany to halt the delivery of arms that could be used by Israeli forces in Gaza, review the European Union's association agreement with Israel and officially recognize a Palestinian state.

The motion comes after the United Kingdom, Canada and France condemned Israel's expanded military operations in the Gaza Strip, threatening "concrete actions" if it does not halt the offensive and allow unrestricted humanitarian aid flows to enter the beleaguered Palestinian enclave.

The trial of four Russian nationals accused of being part of the extremist "Islamic State" begins in Hamburg on Monday. The suspects allegedly collected around €174,000 ($197,834) to send to IS members held in camps in Syria.

Read more from DW's coverage of the trial here.

Katharina Dröge, the head of the environmenalist Greens in the Bundestag, has criticized changes to German naturalization policy planned by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government.

Dröge told Germany's DPA news agency that getting rid of the option to apply for German citizenship after three years of residence in the country would be "completely senseless."

"These are people who meet all the requirements for obtaining citizenship," she said, adding that accelerated naturalization was for people "who integrate particularly quickly, speak good German and work here."

She called Merz's plan a "sign of mistrust" that would harm German companies, which require skilled workers from abroad due to the country's labor shortage.

How is Merz approaching naturalization policy?

Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government, which was led by his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and also included the Greens, opened up the accelerated path to citizenship for "exceptionally well-integrated" migrants in 2024.

Merz's conservative CDU/CSU alliance has criticized the move, calling the option to obtain citizenship after three years "turbo-naturalization." However, it can take as many as two years in parts of Germany to process a naturalization application even if immigrants are eligible for the 3-year path. 

Scholz's government also reduced from eight to five years the normal amount of time migrants need to live in Germany in order to apply to for citizenship.

Merz's coalition, which is led by the CDU/CSU alliance and includes the SPD as its junior partner, does not plan to increase the 5-year residence period required for naturalization under the non-accelerated process.

German Health Minister Nina Warken, who belongs to the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that the government wants to restrict the online prescription of medicinal cannabis.

"It is very simple to get a prescription online," Warken told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

"You just tick what sort of discomfort you allegedly have on a checklist and you get an online prescription," she said.

She said that the increasing use of medicinal marijuana was an example of "clear abuse," as the drug should only be prescribed for people with serious illnesses.

Germany began permitting consumption of cannabis for medical purposes in 2017 and partially legalized recreational use in April, 2024.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to travel to Finland on Monday to attend a summit where he will meet with the prime ministers of the Nordic countries.

He is scheduled to attend a dinner with the Nordic leaders in Turku, which lies on Finland's southwestern coast.

Besides the host, Finland, delegations from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland are also to take part in the summit.

Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023, a military alliance in which Berlin is looking to take on an increased leadership role. 

Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are self-governing territories of Denmark, are to send their own delegations. The Baltic Sea region of Aland, an autonomous Swedish-speaking archipelago that is part of Finland, is also scheduled to attend.

Greenland made international headlines in recent months after US President Donald Trump suggested that Washington could take over the autonomous island territory.

Guten Tag and welcome to our coverage of developments in Germany on Monday, May 26, 2025.

This blog will provide you the latest news, analysis, multimedia content and DW on-the-ground reporting in regards to events in Germany. Stay tuned for more!