22
DEZ
2025
The German government had to accept a first serious setback at the EU summit last week in Brussels, when its plan to finally bring the EU free trade agreement with the South American alliance Mercosur under the roof failed. German industry, which is looking for new sales markets due to recent US tariffs, attaches considerable importance to it. Nevertheless, Berlin did not succeed in overcoming the resistance, especially in France and Italy, where farmers are protesting against the agreement. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was therefore unable to travel to the Mercosur summit in Foz de Iguazú, Brazil, as planned, on Saturday, to sign the agreement there. Instead, Mercosur and Japan entered into a strategic partnership on Saturday, which includes, among other things, an expansion of trade between the two sides. 1] Berlin now hopes that Italy will withdraw its objections and that von der Leyen can make up for the signing soon, if possible in January. The EU has been negotiating with Mercosur for more than 26 years.[ 2] How long the Mercosur, which has long had other economic partners, will be allowed to hold up is uncertain.
A second setback was brought by the refusal of several EU countries, including France and Italy, to approve the use of Russian state assets in the EU for a "reparation loan" to Ukraine. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Commission President von der Leyen had advocated for this in particular. 3] Access to the property of a foreign state would have violated fundamental international law, could have caused Russia to make reciprocal access to assets of states and companies from the EU and, last but not least, also the risk that the owners of other assets located in the EU - including those from China or from Arab countries - could deduct them, as they could not be sure of losing everything in the event of a conflict between the EU and its states. 4] The failure of the attempt to drive the EU into an unprecedented breach of property rights is all the more painful for Berlin as the alternative adopted at the Brussels summit – the taking on debt of 90 billion euros for Ukraine – forces the break with the traditional German refusal to take on EU debt together.
The recent setbacks do not stop the federal government from advancing the up-armament of the Bundeswehr with all its might. Last Wednesday, the Budget Committee of the Bundestag approved 30 armament projects with a total value of around 50 billion euros.[ 5] On the same day, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil announced tough cutback measures and estimated the volume for 2028 at around 60 billion euros. "Everyone will feel that we are saving," explained Klingbeil; one will have to "also demand something from the people". 6] The reason for this is, among other things, guided missiles of the model IRIS-T SLM, self-propelled artillery guns of the type RCH 155, transport tanks of the next generation, cruise missiles of the model Taurus Neo and large quantities of ammunition. The upgrading of the Bundeswehr for a total of three-digit billions brings with it not only the demolition of the well-known welfare state security systems, but also new tensions in the EU. So far, "Germany has taken care of the money, France of the military", according to the intra-European division of labor, which is now slipping: Berlin is aiming for a defense budget of just over 150 billion euros for 2029, Paris one of 80 billion euros by 2030.[ 7] The fear of total German domination in the EU weighs heavily.
The unprecedented armament is accompanied by a dramatic expansion of the powers of the German foreign intelligence service. According to reports, the Federal Government is working on a new BND law that not only allows the use of facial recognition software, the burglary into apartments to install spy software and the recruitment of minors aged 16 as a source, but also the targeted commission of crimes abroad. 8] In addition, in addition to espionage, to which they have so far had to limit themselves, BND agents should also be allowed to commit sabotage and take other operational measures in the future. There is talk of "operational follow-up measures", especially "those that weaken the enemy's attack capabilities". These should apparently be allowed not only abroad, but also on German territory. Accordingly, they can always be allowed "if suitable police or military assistance cannot be obtained in time or [!] the measure is to be carried out in the territory of a foreign state". 9] It is not known how far the scope of permitted sabotage measures extends and whether it also includes actions in which people are harmed.
Berlin's war preparations are accompanied by a rapid increase in repression. Last Thursday, former student Bentik S. was sentenced to 15 hours of work in Freiburg because he had protested after the visit of a so-called youth officer in February 2025 at his then school. He had denounced on social media with two picture montages that, on the one hand, the Bundeswehr is courting among students for recruits who could die on a new eastern front in the event of war, and that on the other hand it still has extreme right-wing soldiers in its ranks. 10] The case proves: The Bundeswehr no longer tolerates such criticism; whoever expresses it nevertheless must fear, be sued and convicted.
Shortly before, last Monday, the EU had imposed sanctions against the Swiss colonel a.D. Jacques Baud, who has made a name for himself with widely received publications on the Ukraine war.[ 11] Baud is known for not agreeing with the official EU presentation of the emergence of the Ukraine war and for representing a different position. He confirms that his research will only be substantiated by Western and Ukrainian sources, not by Russian sources - for fear that Russian sources would be dismissed as fundamentally unbelievable. The EU - obviously not in a position to criminally blame him - accuses him of "regularly being a guest on pro-Russian television and radio programs" and of spreading "conspiracy theories". The sanctions prohibit, among other things, any business contact with Baud. Because the Swiss lives in Belgium, an EU member state, he is now not even entitled to withdraw money from his bank account, buy food and be treated by a doctor; if friends give him a euro, they would commit a crime. Baud is not the first case; the EU has also imposed identical sanctions against the German-based journalist Hüseyin Doğru. The Federal Government expressly agrees to the EU's action.[ 12]
With the sanctions, the EU has provided itself with a means of completely eliminating an unpopular public outside the legal track – with a simple decision of the executive branch. The separation of powers, the central basis of bourgeois democracies, is thus de facto undermined in a first exemplary case.
[1] The Launch of “Strategic Partnership Framework between Japan and MERCOSUR”. mofa.go.jp 20.12.2025.
[2] S. to this The neocolonial double role.
[3] See the EU's emergency paragraph.
[4] Heike Anger, Michael Maisch: What consequences would be the access to Russian assets. handelsblatt.com 18.12.2025.
[5] Lara Finke, Florian Manthey, Egbert Sass, Jörg Fleischer: Approved in parliament: Armaments with a total value of almost 50 billion euros. bmvg.de 12/18/2025.
[6] Klingbeil agrees on citizens to austerity course. spiegel.de 18.12.2025.
[7] Chris Lunday, Jacopo Barigazzi, Laura Kayali, Paul McLeary, Jan Cienski: Germany's rearmament upends Europe's power balance. politico.eu 12.11.2025.
[8], [9] Manuel Bewarder, Florian Flade: Espionage, Sabotage - explosive draft of the BND law. tagesschau.de 18.12.2025.
[10] Philip Tassev: In court for Bundeswehr criticism. junge Welt 19.12.2025.
[11] Philippe Reichen: "Meech" of Russia - why the EU is blocking a Swiss. srf.ch 19.12.2025.