Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music In Litauen erreicht der Aufbau der Panzerbrigade 45 einen neuen Meilenstein: Die Multinational Battlegroup Lithuania wird offiziell unterstellt, Deutschlands bislang größtes Auslandsprojekt der Bundeswehr nimmt sichtbar Gestalt an. Rixa Fürsen berichtet direkt aus Kaunas über eisige Temperaturen, fehlende Infrastruktur und warum diese Brigade als Leuchtturm der Zeitenwende gilt. Außerdem: Außenminister Johann Wadephul wirbt in Canberra für ein neues Freihandelsabkommen. Warum Australien strategisch wichtiger wird – als Partner gegen Protektionismus, für Rohstoffsicherheit bei Lithium und Kupfer, und für eine regelbasierte Handelsordnung jenseits von Mercosur und Indien. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Im März stehen die ersten zwei von insgesamt fünf Landtagswahlen an. Baden-Württemberg und Rheinland-Pfalz sind der Auftakt. In der CDU derweil sind Vorschläge zur Abschaffung der”Lifestyle-Teilzeit” und der Streichung von Kassenleistung für den Zahnarztbesuch derweil Anlass für Unruhe. Die einen äußern sich, die anderen sind verärgert und kassieren die Ideen so schnell ein, wie sie gemacht werden.  Eine Partei sucht öffentlich ihre Linie und das macht die Wahlkämpfer unglücklich. Rasmus Buchsteiner berichtet von der Flatterstimmung und dem Versuch, unter anderem vor und auf dem CDU-Parteitag in Stuttgart den Schaden zu begrenzen. Außerdem bespricht er mit Gordon, wie die ausbleibenden Fortschritte bei den versprochenen Reformen die Situation mit ausgelöst haben. Gleichzeitig geht es für die SPD in den Umfragen bergauf. Zumindest in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Dort ist die AfD der Hauptgegner für die amtierende Ministerpräsidentin Manuela Schwesig. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht sie darüber, wie sie den Moment für sich nutzen und für ihre Partei nutzen will. Außerdem: Der Kanzler bricht heute zu seiner ersten offiziellen Reise in die Golfregion auf. Tom Schmidtgen vom Pro-Newsletter ‘Industrie und Handel am Morgen’ über den neuen wichtigen Partner Saudi-Arabien, der sich nicht nur seiner strategisch guten Lage, sondern auch seiner wirtschaftlichen Stärke bewusst ist.  Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Kiew im tiefsten Winter: minus 20 Grad, Angriffe auf Energieanlagen, Menschen ohne Strom und Heizung. Trotz angekündigter Feuerpause setzt Russland seine Attacken fort. Während Präsident Wolodymyr Selenskyj gemeinsam mit NATO-Generalsekretär Mark Rutte Blumen niederlegt, heulen in der Hauptstadt erneut die Sirenen. Im Gespräch mit dem Sicherheits- und Ukraine-Experten Nico Lange wird deutlich, wie dramatisch die Lage ist und warum Europas Reaktion weit hinter dem Notwendigen zurückbleibt. Es geht um fehlende Luftverteidigung, zu langsame Lieferungen von Patriot-Systemen, die weiterhin aktive russische Schattenflotte und die politischen Illusionen rund um schnelle Deals und große Friedensversprechen. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Zittern um die Versorgungssicherheit: Deutschlands Gasspeicher sind nur noch zu einem Drittel gefüllt. Während Wirtschaftsministerin Katherina Reiche beschwichtigt, warnt die Branche vor Engpässen an extrem kalten Tagen. Joana Lehner von “Energie und Klima am Morgen” berichtet im Gespräch mit Gordon Repinski über die Sorgen der Energiebranche und wie Unternehmen mit kurzfristigem Bedarf in finanzielle Nöte geraten könnten. Ein kostenloses Probe-Abo des Pro-Newsletters gibt es hier. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview erklärt Netzagentur-Chef Klaus Müller, warum er trotz leerer Speicher keine Mangellage sieht, aber mit steigenden Preisen rechnet, wenn auch nicht für private Haushalte.  Beben in Washington: Drei Millionen neu veröffentlichte Seiten der Epstein-Akten erschüttern das Machtzentrum der USA. Mittendrin: Präsident Donald Trump. Washington-Korrespondent Jonathan Martin  von POLITICO analysiert, warum der Zynismus der US-Wähler gegenüber den Institutionen einen neuen Siedepunkt erreicht. Außerdem im Podcast: Zahnarzt nur noch für Selbstzahler? Die Aufregung um den Vorstoß des CDU-Wirtschaftsrates. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Keine Brandmauer in München: Nach zwei Jahren sind drei AfD-Politiker wieder auf die Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz eingeladen. MSC-Chef Wolfgang Ischinger setzt auf Dialog statt Ausgrenzung, auch wenn die Entscheidung für Kritik bei den Grünen und Sicherheitsbedenken in der Union sorgt. Pauline von Pezold und Gordon Repinski analysieren die Hintergründe der Einladung und das juristische Tauziehen hinter den Kulissen.  Wahlkampf-Check Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: In Schwerin zeichnet sich ein Zweikampf zwischen SPD und AfD ab, während die CDU in Umfragen bei 13 Prozent stagniert. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview bezieht CDU-Spitzenkandidat Daniel Peters Stellung: Wie viel „Politikwechsel“ ist mit ihm machbar und wo zieht er die Linie gegenüber der AfD?  Eskalation im Iran: Während das Regime in Teheran mit äußerster Brutalität gegen die eigene Bevölkerung vorgeht und die Armeen der EU-Staaten als Terrororganisationen einstuft, stellt sich die Frage nach der Rolle des Westens. Nahost-Experte Daniel-Dylan Böhmer, Korrespondent für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik von  WELT, ordnet ein, warum ein US-Militärschlag unter Donald Trump aktuell unwahrscheinlich bleibt und welche Vermittler jetzt gefragt sind. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

MAGDEBERG, Germany — At a lectern in a regional parliament just before Christmas, Ulrich Siegmund begins to set up a joke. “No one should be forced to pay for disinformation,” Siegmund thunders. He is the floor leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt, and he launches into a diatribe against a familiar target: Germany’s giant publicly funded broadcasters ARD and ZDF, institutions comparable to a supercharged blend of PBS, NPR and local public television and radio. Critics, not just from the far-right, have accused ARD and ZDF of runaway costs and a pronounced leftward political bias for many years. The channels, Siegmund tells his fellow lawmakers, must shrink and report neutrally, “without indoctrination, without all the nonsense.” As one of many examples, he cites a recent documentary titled “Radical Christians in Germany: A Crusade from the Right.” And then comes the joke: “We all know that feeling — you sit on a train and hope that no radical Christian sits down next to you.” The AfD benches erupt in laughter. Even a member of the center-right Christian Democrats cracks a smile. Siegmund is tall, slim, telegenic. His graying hair is slicked back; the edges of his three-day beard are precisely trimmed. He wears a tailored navy suit, white shirt and pocket square. When he speaks, even when he attacks, a faint smile flutters on his face. In recent months, this 35-year-old regional politician has turned into a new leading figure on Germany’s far right, now one of the two largest parties in the national parliament, the Bundestag, neck-and-neck with the Christian Democrats, known as the CDU, and its sister party, the CSU. Siegmund is already a skilled politician, the kind who can set up what looks like a parliamentary defeat that actually serves to build his political momentum. Which is exactly what he does next. Siegmund’s caucus proposes that Saxony-Anhalt withdraw from the treaties that underpin Germany’s public broadcasting system. The motion is doomed. A Christian Democrat praises the regional public broadcaster as “reliable,” prompting an AfD heckler to shout: “Yes, for you!” The vote ends 66 to 16 against Siegmund. Support only came from the AfD. A blowout, but only at first glance. The parliament in the state capital Magdeburg is not Siegmund’s primary stage. Shortly after the speech, he posts a clip on social media under the headline: “This is how they manipulate us.” On TikTok alone, more than 600,000 users follow him; Instagram and Facebook add nearly 300,000 each — more than nearly any other German politician. The video draws a lot of support. “I’m hoping for an absolute majority for the AfD,” one supporter comments. That hope may no longer be far-fetched. Later this year, Siegmund has a realistic chance to deliver the AfD its first outright victory one of Germany’s 16 states. Recent polls put the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt at 39 percent, once even at 40. A gain of just two or three points could be enough for Siegmund to secure an absolute majority in the 83-seat state parliament and take over the premier’s office in the stately Palais am Fürstenwall. It would be the party’s first electoral prize, one that would surmount what’s become known as Germany’s “firewall” — an unwritten but rigid pact among Germany’s other parties to block out the AfD by refusing any cooperation: no coalitions, no confidence deals, no informal alliances. They view the party as a force whose ethno-nationalist agenda and repeated extremist controversies violate the country’s postwar consensus, forged to prevent Germany from ever again going down the kind of path that lead to WWII. The AfD’s hardline anti-immigration rhetoric, bouts of historical revisionism, and notably its Russia-friendly posture have made cooperation politically, and for many, morally, untenable. As Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz recently said: “We are worlds apart from that party.” Most of the time, German parties come to power in states and nationally by forming coalitions. As long as the firewall holds, the only way the AfD can take power is by winning a straight-up majority. Which is what it seems poised to do in the September elections. Much will depend on how many of the state’s smaller parties fail to clear Germany’s five-percent threshold; Votes for those parties are discarded when seats are distributed, boosting the relative strength of the larger ones. The pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens are currently at risk, as are the center-left Social Democrats and the new left-populist BSW party. If those factions don’t clear the threshold, AfD could win less than half of the vote but take power in parliament with an absolute majority of seats. And that would immediately launch Siegmund to the forefront of German politics. Nationally, the AfD is led by 46-year-old Alice Weidel, whose cool, abrasive style attracts attention but little affection. Her co-chair Tino Chrupalla, a 50-year-old painter, appears more down-to-earth yet often awkward. By contrast, the young candidate from Saxony-Anhalt presents a more personable, media-savvy image. As governor, Siegmund would be the AfD’s first-ever leader tested in a relevant executive office — a role fraught with risk. Success, however, would make him a contender for the party’s top candidacy in the next national elections, presumably in 2029. For now, Weidel is the front-runner, and Siegmund is smart enough not to challenge her leadership role. His goal, he says, is to help Weidel on her way to become Germany’s first AfD chancellor. I’m sitting in a small, austere meeting room inside the state parliament in Magdeburg when Siegmund enters, smiling broadly and offering a quick handshake before taking his seat. He pours himself a glass of water and starts talking about my hometown. “You’re from Hanover, how interesting.” Strictly speaking, that’s nonsense. My hometown routinely ranks among Germany’s dullest cities. But the reception is oddly disarming. I’m here to understand what sets this AfD politician apart from a party so often defined by its hostility to the political “mainstream.” What, if anything, lies beneath his notably softer public manner? Our conversation follows a pattern. When I ask Siegmund about balancing work and family — his wife works at a school, he is the father of a young daughter — he asks about my own family. He mentions going to the gym twice a week and running a half marathon in just over 90 minutes, and he then asks what sports I do. In Germany, few politicians master this kind of engaging conversational style. In the AfD in particular, it is highly unusual. The party is notorious for treating journalists with suspicion. Siegmund even speaks about mainstream rivals without derision. The Free Democrats in his state, he says, are “perfectly reasonable” to deal with. With the CDU’s parliamentary group, “the human side works about 80 percent of the time.” When he passes colleagues in the hallways, they greet each other. In the federal parliament in Berlin, such normality between the AfD and other parties’ politicians would be unthinkable. Siegmund broke with the CDU more than a decade ago over Germany’s euro rescue policies, which he describes as ideology-driven and economically damaging: “For me, that was the point at which I could no longer, and no longer wished to, go along.” The dispute led him to the AfD. “What drives me is the determination to step in precisely where Germany needs me the most,” Siegmund says about his political motivation. “For me, Saxony-Anhalt is a first and crucial step toward putting the entire country back on its feet.” Oliver Kirchner, Siegmund’s co-leader in the AfD caucus and 24 years his senior, says it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that he first recognized the young man’s talent. He is, Kirchner notes, “also visually appealing” and doesn’t make the kinds of gaffes that trigger attacks from his opponents. The contrast between the two men is stark. Kirchner — short, bald and combative — delivers tirades about “globalist communists” and the “lying chancellor,” barely looking up from his manuscript. He seldom smiles, and if he does, it carries a grim edge. When Kirchner led the party into the recent 2021 state election, the AfD suffered its first ever decline in eastern Germany, slipping from 24 to 21 percent. Soon after, Siegmund rose to the top. To say the party is on a winning streak because of him is not quite accurate. Rather, Siegmund has a chance of winning despite his party being a drag on his prospects. The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has long been plagued by infighting and scandal. A former leader was forced out after allegations of cronyism, megalomania and a speech in which he referred to Turks as “camel drivers.” More recently, the party voted to expel a former general secretary, now a federal lawmaker, over alleged conflicts between his political and business interests. The accused is fighting back, accusing his former colleagues of cronyism and doctored expense trips, including to Disneyland. He has threatened to reveal more. Both locally and nationally, Siegmund’s own party could prove his biggest obstacle on the road to power. “I don’t want an AfD premier,” Peter Nitschke tells me. The entrepreneur and president of Saxony-Anhalt’s construction industry association, is meeting me in his office in a village an hour’s drive south of Magdeburg. “But if Mr. Siegmund governs, I’ll live with it. I certainly wouldn’t leave my home because of it.” By contrast, the outgoing CDU premier, Rainer Haseloff, has announced that he would move away if the AfD took power. I am visiting Nitschke to find out how business leaders in this eastern German state view the prospect of an AfD-led government. In western Germany and in Berlin in particular, any visible engagement with the far-right party or any attempt to question its isolation provokes outrage. In the east, those constraints have been weakening for some time. I want to find out how far this change has progressed. The Harz, a low mountain range that barely registers for visitors from southern Germany’s Alps, was once the borderland between East and West. Nitschke grew up under the East’s socialist dictatorship. The early 1990s, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, were the best years of his life, he says. “Everything seemed possible.” That spirit, he believes, has since faded: “Germany has become bureaucratic and fearful.” The AfD’s rise is, in his view, the result of a leftward drift among all the other parties on the national level, “including my own, unfortunately.” Nitschke has been a CDU member for decades. He does not support the AfD. But in our conversation, his rejection of the party is free of alarmism. In his daily life, Nitschke says, there is no political firewall. “If I excluded all AfD voters and members, I couldn’t build a single bathroom anymore.” His state association of tilers, carpenters and road builders would collapse. This approach differs sharply from attitudes in western Germany and in the country’s capital. In the East, this fear of treating the party as a normal political player is gone, Nitschke says. Nitschke tells me he last encountered Siegmund at a business-association dialogue in Magdeburg in November. The AfD politician has been courting support from the private sector for some time. All the state’s parliamentary leaders were invited, Nitschke says, “of course including Mr. Siegmund.” There were presentations and a kind of speed-dating for business representatives: Each political representative had his or her own table, and business leaders could circulate between them, stopping to strike up conversations. Three tables drew the biggest crowds, Nitschke says: those of the CDU, the Free Democrats, and the AfD. Siegmund had a convincing manner, Nitschke recollects. Part of that, he believes, stems from his professional background. In his mid-20s, before finishing a business degree, Siegmund co-founded a small company producing scented room fragrances. He is still a shareholder. It probably helps his relations with the region’s commercial interests that Siegmund’s background is more middle than working class. Siegmund’s mother, a civil engineer, died in 2019. His father is an electrical engineer and also now active in local politics for the AfD. All this may not make him an economic expert, but it has given him firsthand exposure to entrepreneurship, an experience most German politicians lack. In the parliament of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt’s economy minister Sven Schulze is stretching his legs beneath a conference table at the end of a long legislative day in mid-December. The CDU’s top candidate for the state election is Siegmund’s only serious rival. Asked what he can do that his AfD opponent cannot, the 46-year-old grins: “Govern.” Politics, Schulze says, is not about speeches but substance and the value one brings to a state. Beyond his experience as a minister, he cites his networks in Berlin and Brussels as an important political asset, crucial for attracting major investment. Broad-shouldered and pragmatic, Schulze is, from the AfD’s perspective, a tough opponent: an authentic East German, father of three, trained as an industrial engineer, with years in the private sector. Not one easy to slam as an out-of-touch liberal. If the AfD were to win outright, Schulze predicts chaos — not fascism, as other CDU politicians might warn, but disorder. “Mr. Siegmund has no governing experience, little substance and no suitable personnel,” he says. A month after our conversation, the CDU takes a step widely seen as an effort to block Siegmund’s rise. Haseloff, the long-time CDU governor, resigns and the state parliament elects Schulze as his successor. The leadership swap shows the CDU’s nervousness: The party is hoping that the power of incumbency can shore up not only its own candidate, but save the firewall. Virtually at the same time, the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt makes moves of its own, unveiling a draft “governing program.” It is a radical break with the political mainstream, though hardly a surprising one. The 156-page document, due to be debated and adopted at a party convention in April, nods to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán as a governance model and demands public arts funding to be redirected away from “anti-German” projects toward work that strengthens national identity. It also proposes a “baby bonus” of €2,000 for the first two children and €4,000 for each additional child, available only if at least one parent holds German citizenship and the family has lived in Saxony-Anhalt for at least a year. Within the CDU, many expect fierce resistance from Berlin if the AfD were to take power in Saxony-Anhalt. The federal government, they believe, currently led by CDU chancellor Merz, would do everything possible to make life difficult for a state ruled by the far right. One potential lever is the Länderfinanzausgleich, Germany’s fiscal equalization system, which redistributes funds from wealthier states to poorer ones. Saxony-Anhalt belongs to the latter. There could be attempts, the argument goes, to freeze those payments, under the premise that one cannot finance alleged fascists. The right-wing intellectual and publisher Götz Kubitschek, whose estate lies in Saxony-Anhalt, goes even further. We meet in a restaurant in the medieval town of Naumburg, a two-hour drive south of Magdeburg. He tells me he expects Berlin to invoke Bundeszwang, federal coercion, under Article 37 of Germany’s constitution, allowing the federal government to force a state to follow its obligations. This would be a dramatic escalation in the republic’s cooperative federal system. How it would work in practice remains an open question – Bundeszwang has never been used in post-war Germany. If, say, Saxony-Anhalt refused to provide the federally required accommodation and basic support for asylum seekers, Berlin could respond by issuing binding directives, potentially through a federal commissioner, compelling state and local authorities to restore those services. It would be a kind of showdown between Germany’s federal and state government that hasn’t been seen before. Siegmund’s state party still has enormous homework to do before taking on the responsibilities of governing, Kubitschek says. “They have to prepare like the biggest overachievers.” Siegmund, like most upstarts, sees his inexperience as a virtue. “Maybe we’ll make mistakes,” he concedes. “But worse than today? That’s impossible.” His shadow cabinet, he says, will include seasoned party figures and former politicians from other parties. He is not naming names. On the evening of September 6, 2026, the name Ulrich Siegmund may remain a footnote in German politics. Or it could enter the history books as the starting point of a right-wing revolution, one that began in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network is a multi-publication initiative producing scoops, investigations, interviews, op-eds and analysis that reverberate across the world. It connects journalists from Axel Springer brands—including POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, and Onet— on major stories for an international audience. Their ambitious reporting stretches across Axel Springer platforms: online, print, TV, and audio. Together, the outlets reach hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Germany’s football association on Friday ruled out a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after facing some pressure to pull out over U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. “The DFB Executive Committee agrees that debates on sports policy should be conducted internally and not in public,” the association said in a statement. “A boycott of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is currently not under consideration. In preparation for the tournament, the DFB is in dialogue with representatives from politics, security, business and sport. “We believe in the unifying power of sport and in the global impact that a football World Cup can have. Our goal is to strengthen this positive force — not to prevent it,” it added. Over the last two weeks, German media and politicians have debated a potential boycott of the sporting event following Trump’s now-retracted threats to impose tariffs on EU countries opposing his plans to annex Greenland. The World Cup is one of Trump’s prestige projects, and the U.S. president maintains close ties to Gianni Infantino, president of the world football governing body FIFA. A boycott by heavyweight European nations would cripple the tournament. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos amid tensions over Greenland, Infantino sought to downplay political divisions, saying: “The world stands still because the World Cup and football has really an impact on the lives, on the moods of people like [nothing] else. There is nothing anywhere close to what football does. It changes the mood not just of people, but of countries.”  Calls for a politically motivated boycott of sporting mega events are not new. Ahead of the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar, media and politicians in several EU countries debated boycotting the event over the host country’s treatment of migrant workers. Germany has won the World Cup four times.

Berlin residents are struggling with icy pavements as freezing rain and persistent frost grip the German capital, triggering a wave of criticism over the city administration’s handling of the problems. Under-pressure Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner on Thursday asked the city’s House of Representatives to allow the use of de-icing salt on sidewalks. While salt is permitted on major roads, its use on sidewalks is prohibited because it could damage trees, prompting some residents to buy spiked footwear to avoid slipping. “We are currently experiencing extreme weather conditions in Berlin — with freezing rain and persistent frost,” Wegner wrote on X. “I appeal to the House of Representatives to make the use of de-icing salt in Berlin possible in exceptional cases.” Hospitals have reported a surge in serious injuries caused by falls on icy sidewalks. A spokesperson for a Berlin trauma clinic told local tabloid B.Z. that some patients narrowly avoided permanent paralysis after slipping. Wegner, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has come in for criticism over his handling of the situation, just weeks after he was lambasted for playing tennis on the first day of a five-day blackout that left many city residents without heating. Former CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet lashed out on X: “Now even Greens … are making fun of the fact that Berlin is incapable of clearing ice from the roads. And no, it’s not some surprising weather crisis: it’s called winter.” In the post, Laschet reshared an AI-generated image depicting airplanes dropping salt by parachute, in a parody of the Berlin Airlift. With forecasts showing temperatures are expected to remain below freezing for another week, Tobias Schulze — head of the far-left Die Linke faction in Berlin’s parliament — took aim at the CDU and Social Democrats’ governing coalition. “That the coalition is arguing about the use of road salt in this situation is a mockery. Instead of appealing to party members on Instagram, the governing mayor should convene an emergency summit with the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), civil protection authorities, the city sanitation service (BSR) and the fire brigade,” Schulze told POLITICO. POLITICO has reached out to Wegner to ask when sidewalks could be salted, but did not immediately receive a response. The freezing weather conditions have disrupted Berlin for days, with public transport also restricted due to ice-covered tram wires.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Ein Monat in 2026 und die politische Lage ist bereits verdichtet. In dieser Sonderausgabe spricht Gordon Repinski mit Mariam Lau (DIE ZEIT) über die großen Linien: Donald Trump und die neue Weltordnung, Europas wachsende Eigenständigkeit, die Lernkurve von Friedrich Merz und die strategischen Herausforderungen im Umgang mit der AfD vor entscheidenden Landtagswahlen im Osten. Mehr zur Analyse von Friedrich Merz und der „verlorenen Mitte“ im Buch von Mariam Lau. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Vor Südspanien, im Militärhafen von Rota, startet das größte NATO-Verlege-Manöver des Jahres. Rund 10.000 Soldaten, mehr als ein Dutzend Schiffe, der Weg führt von Südeuropa bis nach Deutschland und weiter Richtung Osten. Das Ziel: zeigen, wie schnell die Allianz im Ernstfall reagieren kann.  Rixa Fürsen berichtet vom Deck des spanischen Kriegsschiffs Castilla und spricht mit Matthias Gebauer (SPIEGEL) über die Allied Reaction Force, die Lehren aus dem Ukrainekrieg und die wachsende Unsicherheit über das amerikanische Schutzversprechen.  Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna