Category Archives: Germany

Putin’s war is a watershed moment for the EU – the days of ‘never again’ are back | Caroline de Gruyter

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Suddenly, brutally, the invasion of Ukraine has taken member states back to the founding principle of the European project

Interpreters in the European parliament usually sound so monotonous and mechanical that even well-rested listeners have trouble staying awake. But when the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressed a parliamentary session via video link on Tuesday, something extraordinary happened: the person relaying his words into English was so moved that he audibly fought to hold back his tears. “We’re fighting … just for our land … and for our freedom,” he said, then sniffed, his voice almost breaking as Zelenskiy, wearing a khaki T-shirt in what looked like a bunker, declared: “Despite the fact … that all our cities of our country are now blocked … nobody is going to enter and intervene with the freedom and our country.”

This is just one example among many, of how Vladimir Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine is shaking Europeans to the core. Having long believed that war was impossible on the continent, they are shocked – and embarrassed – that Ukrainians must not only defend their country against Russian aggression, but must also defend democracy, freedom and the right of sovereign states to determine their destiny – the very principles that underpin the European Union.

Caroline de Gruyter is a Europe correspondent and columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, and Foreign Policy

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Germany seizes Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s $600m superyacht – report

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Hamburg authorities seized the 156-metre Dilbar as yachts belonging to five other Russian billionaires headed to the non-extradition Maldives

Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news

German authorities have reportedly seized the $600m superyacht belonging to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a Hamburg shipyard.

Usmanov was on a list of billionaires to face sanctions from the European Union in response to Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine. It came as the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, said it had seized a yacht linked to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat.

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If you want to hit Russian economy hard, aim for energy export

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Sanctions debate rapidly heading towards energy sanctions in Ukraine-Russia crisis

At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a week ago, almost every analyst agreed that Russian oil and gas would keep flowing westwards. The state of mutual energy dependence seemed too entrenched. On one side, the EU could not decouple itself easily from the source of 38% of its natural gas imports. On the other, Russia under financial sanctions would need cash. Old hands reflected that, even in the long decades of the cold war, the Soviet Union and Europe maintained commercial relationships in energy.

A week later, such thinking looks naive. The “shock and awe” financial sanctions, especially those aimed at Russia’s central bank, exceed anything previously seen, but the shortcoming is obvious: if you really want to hit the Russian economy hard, the place to aim is its energy export sector, a part that has been spared sanctions so far and generates hundreds of millions of dollars daily. The point is made repeatedly by Ukrainian officials in their appeals for the trade to cease, and its moral force is hammered home with every fresh Russian atrocity.

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Germany unites behind chancellor’s historic U-turn on arming Ukraine

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Olaf Scholz accused of failing to consult over volte-face on military policy, but coalition partners and public back him

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, ambushed his own party and coalition partners when he announced a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons, but for now he seems to be riding a wave of broad public support.

In a speech in front of the Bundestag on Sunday, Scholz crossed several red lines held by his own party in less than half an hour, when he announced that Germany would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression and set up a special €100bn (£83bn) fund to modernise its own forces. “A turning point in the history of our continent” called for an appropriate response, he said.

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Weapons from the west vital if Ukraine is to halt Russian advance

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Analysis: previously there has been a reluctance to supply arms to the under-siege state, but that appears to be changing

Since the outbreak of fighting last week and after years of reluctance, western countries have promised to send thousands of anti-tank and hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, but they will have to get supplies to the frontline quickly if they are to be effective.

Germany in the past few days broke with decades of anti-rearmament tradition to send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, while Sweden agreed to send 5,000 next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAWs).

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Germany’s ‘Putin-caressers’ start coming to terms with their naivety

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Analysis: politicians who believed Putin could be ‘tamed by empathy and accommodation’ are having to hurriedly rethink their positions

Prominent figures in Germany are coming under increasing pressure to publicly distance themselves from Vladimir Putin amid accusations that they are bringing shame on the country and themselves.

The range of so-called Putin-Versteher (Putin-understanders) – those who have sought to explain or justify the Russian leader’s actions – include figures from the far-left Die Linke and the far-right AfD, as well as members of the Social Democrats and some conservatives who have tried to keep him on side in the interests of their constituents and German energy security.

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Scholz announces €100bn rise in German defence spending after Russia’s Ukraine invasion – video

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Germany departed from longstanding policy again on Sunday with chancellor Olaf Scholz announcing the government would invest more than 2% of GDP in the military from its 2022 budget. He praised Russians who protested against the invasion for their bravery 

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Zelenskiy and Johnson welcome move to cut off Russian banks from Swift – video

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The US, Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove ‘selected Russian banks’ from the Swift international payments system. UK prime minister Boris Johnson welcomed the move, saying: 'More countries are joining the call of the UK to use Swift … to tighten the economic ligature around the Putin regime'. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that cutting off some Russian banks will 'effectively block Russian exports and imports’. The move was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. ‘This is billions and billions of losses for Russia, a tangible price for this vile invasion of our country,’ he said

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Putin shunned by world as his hopes of quick victory evaporate

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Russian troops facing fierce resistance as Germany abandons its postwar military stance to supply arms to Ukraine

• Ukraine crisis live

Vladimir Putin was facing growing international isolation and the prospect of pariah status on Saturday night as long-term allies dramatically turned against him following the invasion of Ukraine, and western nations planned further decisive military and financial action against Moscow.

As his hopes of a quick victory evaporated in the face of fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers and armies of citizen volunteers, Russia’s president was deserted by his key ally, China, and had his ultimatum demanding Kyiv’s surrender defiantly brushed aside by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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Can Germany function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?

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Analysis: Nord Stream 2 was meant to deliver 70% of country’s gas and switch to renewable energy has been slow

The Ukraine crisis has plunged Germany into an intense debate about how it will heat its homes and power its industry in future, summed up in the short question: can Europe’s largest economy function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?

The Green federal economics minister, Robert Habeck, answered with a decisive “yes it can”, a day after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to deliver from Russia as much as 70% of Germany’s gas requirements. There are considerable doubts as to whether the $11bn project will ever now go ahead.

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‘Her blood … his hands’: what the papers say about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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Photograph of teacher bloodied by Russian attack on Ukraine dominates front pages as Putin sends his troops to war

The front pages in Britain and around the world are devoted to the shocking events in Ukraine, with graphic images of the destruction unleashed by Vladimir Putin.

A photograph of a woman with a bloodied and bandaged head in the wake of a Russian attack dominates the front of the Guardian with the headline “Putin invades”.

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Kyiv furious as EU wavers on banning Russia from Swift payment system

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Ukraine foreign minister voices anger as EU leaders likely to decide against blocking Russia from international payments system

The EU faced furious remonstrations from Kyiv as Europe’s leaders looked set to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia, even as the Kremlin lay siege to Ukraine via land, air and sea.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.

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Europe could see out winter on gas reserves if Russian imports stop, says German analysis

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Economic institute says current levels of gas enough for six weeks if mild temperatures continue

Europe could heat its citizens’ homes and power its industry on existing gas reserves for the remaining months of a relatively mild winter even if the standoff with Moscow over Ukraine were to escalate to a total stop on Russian gas imports, a leading German economic institute has said.

Unusually low gas reserves have raised alarm among several European governments in recent months, with storage tanks across the continent on average at only 31% capacity at the start of this week – roughly half as full as in 2020.

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Johnson’s Germany comparison highlights UK’s low sick pay

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Proportion of UK worker’s salary covered is typically less than quarter of Germany’s 100% in first six weeks

Asked this week about whether his move to drop Covid isolation requirements would drive infectious workers into the office, Boris Johnson said UK workers should learn from their German counterparts and stay home when unwell.

The prime minister did not mention the stark differences in the support available for British workers compared with Germany and the rest of the world, and whether this could explain their reluctance to take a sick day.

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Germany hopes protein-based Covid vaccine will sway sceptics

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About 1.4m doses of Nuvaxovid to arrive in country this week, after EU approval in December

Germany will offer its population a new protein-based Covid-19 vaccine comparable to conventional flu jabs this week, in the hope of swaying a sizeable minority that remains sceptical of the novel mRNA technology used in the most commonly used vaccines.

About 1.4m doses of the Nuvaxovid vaccine developed by the US biotech company Novavax are to arrive in Germany this week, the country’s health minister, Karl Lauterbach, confirmed last Friday. A further million doses are to arrive the week after, with the German government’s total order for the year 2022 amounting to 34m doses.

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UK has been slower than some countries in giving Covid jabs to younger children

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Progress has been slower than in adults, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts

All nations of the UK will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all 5-11 year olds, with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland all joining Wales in offering the jabs to younger children on Wednesday.

Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to this age group. Many EU member states began offering vaccination to all children aged five to 11 in December, but progress has been patchy, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts.

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Coronavirus restrictions ease across Europe despite high case rates

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France, Netherlands and Germany all announce plans to reduce or remove Covid controls

France’s nightclubs reopen for the first time in three months on Wednesday and the Netherlands returns to “almost normal” from next Friday, as European countries continue to lift their coronavirus curbs despite relatively high infection numbers.

Groups may also play to standing audiences in French concert venues, customers in bars and cafes will be allowed to eat and drink while standing at the counter and cinemagoers and train passengers can snack during their film or journey.

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Ukraine crisis: Russian invasion could start at ‘any time’, White House warns – live updates

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Latest words from Scholz as he prepares to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy:

We urgently expect signs of de-escalation from Moscow. Further military aggression would have very serious consequences for Russia. I absolutely agree with our allies on that. We are witnessing a very, very serious threat to peace in Europe.

“Ukraine is convening a meeting with Russia and all member states in the next 48 hours to discuss the reinforcement and movement of Russian forces along our border,” he wrote on Facebook.

I would like to emphasise once again that we are talking about the movement of Russian troops on Russian territory,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, once again accusing Ukraine of ramping up tensions.

“Large-scale movements of Ukraine’s armed forces are also carried out in the border zone on Ukrainian territory, moreover, in the area that borders on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics, which leads to escalation of the situation”

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Germany’s plan for vaccination mandate losing momentum

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Bundestag debate on general mandate unlikely before end of March when Covid-19 cases are forecast to fall

Germany’s plans to introduce a general vaccination mandate this spring are faltering, as a growing number of politicians question if it will find a majority in parliament.

The Bundestag was originally due to debate motions in favour and against mandatory vaccinations this week, after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, indicated he considered such a step necessary to cope with a possible resurgence of the virus in the next few months.

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