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

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is planning to travel to Australia this month to clinch a security and trade deal, according to a person familiar with the talks. Her trip will follow a meeting next week between European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his Australian counterpart Don Farrell in Brussels, a second person said. Both people were granted anonymity because the schedules are still tentative. The EU and Canberra are moving to revive trade negotiations that collapsed at the end of 2023 amid disagreements over quotas of beef and lamb. The quotas are still being negotiated between Canberra and Brussels, the first person familiar with the talks said. Von der Leyen will take the 20-hour-plus flight to Australia directly after she attends the Munich Security Conference, which takes place in the German city on Feb. 13-15, according to Australian digital newspaper The Nightly, which broke the news of the Commission chief’s four-day trip. EU countries last December allowed the Commission to negotiate a defense deal with Australia. Sealing such a deal would come on the heels of security and defense partnerships signed with the U.K., Canada and most recently India. An agreement with Australia would represent a win for the EU, as it would open access to the country’s vast reserves of strategic minerals. Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium and also holds the world’s second-largest copper reserves. Coming after the EU’s fraught Mercosur deal with South American countries — criticized by farmers, France and skeptical lawmakers — the pact with Canberra is expected to also trigger pushback due to its significant agricultural component.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Die Koalition will raus aus dem Reformstillstand. Mit dem Bericht der Sozialstaatskommission soll heute ein Wendepunkt markiert werden: weniger Bürokratie, mehr Digitalisierung, effizientere Leistungen. Arbeitsministerin Bärbel Bas legt vor, der Kanzler positioniert sich. Gordon Repinski ordnet die Vorschläge gemeinsam mit Rasmus Buchsteiner ein und blickt auf die nächste, politisch heiklere Reformrunde bei Rente und Krankenversicherung. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Matthias Moosdorf, der frühere außenpolitische Sprecher der AfD. Es geht um Russland, den Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine, persönliche Verbindungen nach Moskau und um die Frage, wo politische Provokation endet und journalistische Konfrontation beginnt. Warum dieses Gespräch das letzte seiner Art bleibt, erklärt Repinski im Podcast. International richtet sich der Blick nach Brüssel und Neu-Delhi: Die EU setzt auf eine neue strategische Nähe zu Indien. Ein schlankes Handelsabkommen, ausgeklammerte Konfliktfelder und sicherheitspolitische Kooperation sollen Tempo bringen – auch als Lehre aus dem stockenden Mercosur-Deal. Oliver Nojan analysiert, warum die Kommission jetzt anders vorgeht und was geopolitisch auf dem Spiel steht. Zum Schluss: ein Rückblick auf „Young Female in Politics“ in Berlin und ein Ausblick auf den heutigen Weltwirtschaftsgipfel – eine Woche, in der sich alles um Reformdruck, Wirtschaft und politische Handlungsfähigkeit dreht. 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

Dora Meredith is the director of ODI Europe. John Clarke is a former senior trade negotiator for the European Commission and former head of the EU Delegation to the WTO and the U.N. He is a fellow at Maastricht University and the Royal Asiatic Society, and a trade adviser for FIPRA public affairs. The EU rarely gets second chances in geopolitics. Yet last week, the European Parliament chose to throw one away. By voting to refer the long-awaited trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc to the Court of Justice of the EU for a legal opinion — a process that may take up two years — lawmakers dealt a serious blow to Europe’s credibility at a moment when speed and reliability matter more than ever. After more than two decades of negotiations, this deal was meant to signal that Europe could still act decisively in a world of intensifying geopolitical competition. As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen argued this month, it was the ultimate test of Europe’s continued relevance on the world stage. Oblivious to this, the Parliament’s decision reinforces the perception that the bloc is unable to follow through, even when an agreement is finally within reach. It is, by any reasonable measure, a strategic own goal. The consequences of this go well beyond trade. Mercosur governments spent years negotiating this free trade agreement (FTA) in good faith, navigating Europe’s hesitation, shifting demands and inconsistent political signals. Understandably, they are now interpreting the referral to the court as a political move. For partners already hedging their bets in an increasingly contested global landscape, it reinforces doubts over whether Europe can be relied on. Meanwhile, for Europe, the true damage is to a deeper truth it all too often obscures: That its real power comes from the ability to make such agreements and then implement them seriously, consistently and at scale. The EU–Mercosur agreement isn’t just another trade deal. It was designed as a framework for long-term economic, political and strategic partnership with a region where Europe’s influence has been steadily eroding. It offers comprehensive market access in goods and services, clearer investment rules, access to critical materials, structured political dialogue and a cooperation-based approach to managing disputes. Taken together, it is meant to anchor Europe more firmly in South America at a time when others, most notably China, have moved faster and with fewer constraints. And while that level of ambition hasn’t disappeared with the Parliament’s vote, it has been put at serious risk. Over the years, much of the criticism surrounding the Mercosur deal has focused on sustainability. Indeed, if eventually passed, this will be the litmus test for whether the EU can translate its values into influence. And to that end, the deal makes a wide set of previously voluntary commitments legally binding, including the implementation of the Paris climate targets and adherence to international conventions on labor rights, human rights, biodiversity and environmental protection. However, it does so through dialogue-based enforcement rather than automatic withdrawal in the face of noncompliance — an approach that reflects the political realities in both Brussels and the Mercosur countries. This has disappointed those calling for tougher regulation, but it highlights an uncomfortable truth: Europe’s leverage over sustainability outcomes doesn’t come from pretending it can coerce partners into compliance but from sustained engagement and cooperation. That was a red line for Mercosur governments, and without it there would be no agreement at all. The deal’s novel “rebalancing mechanism” sits within this logic, as it allows Mercosur countries to suspend concessions if future unforeseen EU regulations effectively negate promised market access. Critics fear this provision could be used to challenge future EU sustainability measures, but Mercosur countries see it as a safeguard against possible unilateral EU action, as exemplified by the Deforestation Regulation. Moreover, in practice, such mechanisms are rarely used. Plus, its inclusion was the price of securing an additional sustainability protocol. Most crucially, though, none of this will resolve itself through legal delay. On the contrary, postponement weakens Europe’s ability to shape outcomes on the ground. Research from Brazil’s leading climate institutes shows that ambitious international engagement strengthens domestic pro‑environment coalitions by increasing transparency, resources and political leverage. Absence, by contrast, creates space for actors with far lower standards. South American and EU leaders join hands following the signing of the now-delayed Mercosur agreement, Jan. 17, 2026., Paraguay. | Daniel Duarte/AFP via Getty Images The same logic applies to the deal’s economic dimension. The Commission rightly highlights the headline figures: Billions of euros in tariff savings, expanded market access, secure access to critical minerals and growing trade. According to a recent study by the European Centre for International Political Economy, each month of delay represents €3 billion in foregone exports. But these numbers matter less than what lies beneath them: Europe will be gaining all this while offering limited concessions in sensitive agricultural sectors; and Mercosur countries will be gaining access to the world’s largest single market — but only if they can meet demanding regulatory and environmental standards that could strain domestic capacity. Again, the real power lies in the deal’s implementation. If managed well, such pressures can drive investment, modernize standards and reduce dependence on raw commodity exports as Latin American think tanks have argued. This transition is precisely what the EU’s €1.8 billion Global Gateway investment package was designed to support. And delaying the agreement delays that as well. The Parliament’s decision isn’t just a procedural setback — it damages Europe’s greatest strength at a time when hesitation carries real cost. It also creates an immediate institutional dilemma for the Commission. Despite the judicial stay, the Commission is legally free to apply the agreement provisionally, but this is a difficult call: Apply it and enter a firestorm of criticism about avoiding democratic controls that will backfire the day the Parliament finally gets to vote on the agreement; or accept a two-year delay and postpone the deal’s economic benefits possibly indefinitely — Mercosur countries aren’t going to hold out forever. If it is going to recover, over the coming months Europe has to do everything possible to demonstrate both to its Mercosur partners and the wider world that this delay doesn’t amount to disengagement. This means sustained political dialogue, credible commitments on investment and cooperation — including the rollout of the Global Gateway — as well as a clear plan for the deal’s implementation the moment this legal process concludes. Two years is an eternity in today’s geopolitical climate. If Europe allows this moment to pass without course correction, others won’t wait. The deal might be imperfect, but irrelevance is far worse a fate. Europe must be much bolder in communicating that reality — to the world and, perhaps more urgently, to its own public.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will call for “swift entry into force” of the EU trade agreements with South American countries of the Mercosur bloc and with Mexico in a joint declaration to be signed by the two leaders in Rome on Friday, seen by POLITICO. Earlier this week, Merz called on the European Commission to implement the controversial trade deal on a provisional basis despite lawmakers voting Wednesday to send the accord for judicial review, stalling its ratification for up to two years. After an informal meeting of the EU’s 27 leaders in Brussels on Thursday evening, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said there was “clear interest” in implementing the EU’s trade deal with Mercosur as soon as possible. “The question of provisional application was raised by several leaders tonight,” von der Leyen said, adding it was important to push forward the trade pact’s “benefits” as soon as possible. More than 20 ministers from Italy and Germany are meeting today at Rome’s opulent Villa Doria Pamphilj to discuss closer cooperation in areas including security and defense and resilience. Meloni and Merz will also call for “the finalization of agreements with important partners in the Indo-Pacific,” just as EU and India could sign a trade deal next week. In what sounded like a reference to tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, the two leaders will say they “oppose the unilateral use of trade measures as well as the impact of non-market policies disrupting global trade.” Seb Starcevic contributed to this report.

BERLIN — As Europe’s traditional Franco-German engine splutters, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is increasingly looking to team up with hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as his co-pilot in steering the EU. The two are set to meet at a summit in the opulent Villa Doria Pamphilj in Rome on Friday to double down on their budding alliance. They are both right-wing Atlanticists who want to cool tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump. And they both have their frustrations with French President Emmanuel Macron. In years past, Germany would traditionally have turned to France at decisive moments to map out blueprints for the EU, so it’s significant that Merz is now aligning with Meloni in his attempt to drive forward core European priorities on trade and industry. In part, Merz’s gravitation toward Meloni is driven by annoyance with France. Berlin is irritated that Paris sought to undermine the landmark Mercosur trade deal with South America, which the Germans have long wanted in order to promote industrial exports. Germany is also considering pulling out of a €100 billion joint fighter-jet program over disputes with the French. Against that backdrop, the alignment with Rome has a compelling logic. During Friday’s meeting, Merz and Meloni are expected to sign up to cooperation on defense, according to diplomats involved in the preparations. It’s not clear what that involves, but Germany’s Rheinmetall and Italy’s Leonardo already have a joint venture to build tanks and other military vehicles. Perhaps most ambitiously, Italy and Germany are also teaming up to draft a new game plan to revive EU industry and expand exports in a joint position paper for the Feb. 12 European Council summit. Berlin and Rome style themselves as the “two main industrial European nations” and have condemned delays to the Mercosur agreement. That language will grate in Paris. IN FOR THE LONG HAUL For Giangiacomo Calovini, a lawmaker from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, who heads the parliament’s Italian-German friendship group, the Merz-Meloni alliance makes sense given Macron’s impending departure from the European stage after next year’s French election. “[Our] two countries have stable governments, especially if compared with France’s,” he said. “It is clear that Meloni and Merz still probably have a long path ahead of them, during which they can work together.” Safeguarding the relationship with Trump is crucial to both leaders, and both Merz and Meloni have sought to avoid transatlantic blow-ups. They have been supported in their firefighting by their foreign ministers, Johann Wadephul and Antonio Tajani. “Giorgia Meloni and Friedrich Merz have represented the European wing most open to dialogue with President Trump,” said Pietro Benassi, former Italian ambassador to Berlin and the EU. “The somewhat surreal acceleration [of events] driven by the American president is confirming a convergence in the positions of Italy and Germany, rather than between Italy and France, or France and Germany.” In contrast to the softly-softly approach in Rome and Berlin, Calovini accused Macron of unhelpfully “contradictory” behavior toward Trump. “He acts as the one who wants to challenge the United States of America but then sends texts — that Trump has inelegantly published — in which he begs Trump to have dinner,” he complained. GOOD CHEMISTRY Officials in Berlin now privately gush over the growing cooperation with Meloni, describing the relationship with Rome as dependable. “Italy is reliable,” said one senior German government official, granted anonymity to speak candidly. It’s not an adjective authorities in Berlin have often used to describe their French counterparts of late. “France is more verbal, but Italy is much more pragmatic,” said Axel Schäfer, a senior lawmaker in Germany’s Social Democratic Party long focused on German-Italian relations. An Italian official also praised the “good chemistry” between Merz and Meloni personally. That forms a marked contrast with the notoriously strained relations between Meloni and Macron, who have frequently clashed. In their effort to draw closer, Merz and Meloni have at times resorted to hyperbole. During his inaugural visit to Rome as chancellor last year, Merz said there was “practically complete agreement between our two countries on all European policy issues.” Meloni returned the sentiment. “It is simply impossible to cast doubt on the relations between Italy and Germany,” she said at the time. MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE That is overegging it. The two leaders, in fact, have considerable differences. Meloni refused to support an ultimately doomed plan, pushed by Merz, to use frozen Russian assets to finance military aid for Ukraine. Meloni also briefly withheld support for the Mercosur trade deal in order to win concessions for Italian farmers before ultimately backing it. Critically, Rome and Berlin are likely to prove very awkward allies when it comes to public finances. Italy has long pushed for looser European fiscal policy — and been a natural ally of France on this point — while Germany has served as the continent’s iron disciplinarian on spending. But even here there has been some convergence, with Meloni cutting Italy’s spending and Merz presiding over a historic expansion in debt-fueled outlays on infrastructure and defense. Fundamentally, much of the growing alliance between Merz and Meloni is a product of shifts undertaken for their own domestic political survival. Meloni has dragged her nationalist Brothers of Italy party to the center, particularly on foreign policy matters. At the same time, the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Germany has forced Merz to shift his conservative party sharply to the right on migration.     This ideological merging has allowed for a warming of relations. As Merz has sought partners on the European level to drastically reduce the inflow of asylum seekers coming to Europe, to reduce regulation and to push for more trade — and provide a counterbalance to Macron — Meloni has become an increasingly important figure for the chancellor. Still, Stefano Stefanini, a former senior Italian diplomat and NATO representative, said there would always be limits to the relationship. “It’s very tactical,” he said. “There’s no coordinated strategy. There are a number of issues on which Meloni and Merz find themselves on the same side.” Stefanini also noted that spending commitments — particularly on military projects — would be an area where Rome would once again find itself in a more natural alliance with France. “On defense spending Italy and France are closer, because Germany has the fiscal capacity to spend by itself, while Italy and France need to get as much financial support as they can from the EU,” he said. Despite such differences, Meloni has seized her opening to get closer to Merz. “Meloni has understood that, as there is some tension in the France-Germany relationship, she could infiltrate and get closer to Germany,” said Marc Lazar, an expert on Franco-Italian relations who teaches at the Luiss University in Rome and at Sciences Po in Paris.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music What a week! Tariff threats, Greenland brinkmanship and a dramatic Trump U-turn in Davos: EU leaders gathered in Brussels for an emergency summit meant to pick up the pieces of the shattered transatlantic relationship and figure out what to do next. In this episode of EU Confidential, we’re on the ground, right next to the European Council meeting as it unfolds. Unpacking how Europe can move forward after Trump escalated fast, reversed course even faster — and still left allies rattled. What did the EU learn? Did standing up work? And is Brussels finally rewriting its playbook for dealing with Washington? Joining host Sarah Wheaton are POLITICO’s own Zoya Sheftalovich, Nick Vinocur and Tim Ross to break it all down. We also dig into other issues looming over the summit: Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” which has split European capitals; the sudden derailment of the Mercosur trade deal; and Ukraine’s abandoned hopes for a security deal.

STRASBOURG — Late on Tuesday night, the talk in Strasbourg’s bars and brasseries — packed with EU lawmakers and their aides — was that a decision on whether to freeze the EU-Mercosur trade deal would come down to just a few votes. Even though a majority of European Parliament lawmakers have had their positions on Mercosur fixed for months, a few swing voters could delay ratification of the deal, which was heavily backed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, by up to two years. The Commission knew Mercosur was heading south for weeks, according to two Commission officials who were granted anonymity to speak freely. A concerted lobbying campaign to ensure that didn’t happen ultimately failed. MEPs ultimately backed a resolution to seek an opinion from the Court of Justice of the EU on whether the texts of the agreement — with the Mercosur countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and which was in the works for over 25 years — comply with the EU treaties. The motion was carried by a margin of 334 to 324 with 11 abstentions. The Parliament now cannot give its assent to the deal until the court has ruled, which can take between 18 and 24 months. The suspension of the deal’s legislative approval sent shockwaves across Europe, especially as von der Leyen had hailed the agreement as a way to bolster EU trade amid turbulent relations with Washington. On a granular level, the freezing of the Mercosur deal can be traced to a handful of MEPs — notably from Romania’s Socialists and Hungary’s center right — whose last-minute U-turns tipped the balance. But it was national politics that really crashed the party, carving deep fault lines in the Parliament’s political groups that will leave deep scars. Mainstream political parties in the likes of Romania, Hungary, Spain, France and Poland are dealing with far-right and right-wing populist movements at home that have made Mercosur a central campaign issue, criticizing Brussels for a deal they claim harms European farmers, which in turn makes it difficult for their MEPs to openly support Mercosur in Europe. “National everyday politics prevailed over the bigger picture, which the EU is trying to present since the start of this Commission,” Željana Zovko, vice-chair of the European People’s Party, told POLITICO. She said she was “totally upset” with those EPP members who had voted to freeze the Mercosur deal out of the “selfishness of national day-to-day politics and elections.” A BITTER TASTE The centrist coalition that in 2024 supported a second term for von der Leyen — the EPP, the Socialists and Democrats and the liberals of Renew — all backed Mercosur, but many of their members did not. Across political parties, certain national delegations have been against the deal for months, if not years, including the Irish, the French and the Poles. “We were expecting this result,” said a Commission official, granted anonymity to speak freely, adding that although the team of Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič had planned for this outcome, it left a ” bitter aftertaste because the vote was really tight.” “The narrative on free trade has over the years more and more been hijacked by the extremes, inciting fear in people by using false information, and that ultimately also resulted in the outcome of Wednesday’s vote,” Renew Europe top trade lawmaker Svenja Hahn told POLITICO. Aware that the vote was likely to go down to the wire, the Commission for weeks calculated which MEPs would vote in favor of the deal in each main political group, and tried to get lawmakers to either “flip” sides or abstain, according to a third Commission official. They devised strategies such as getting their peers to pressure them, and asking heads of government and commissioners to call MEPs, the official said. Pro-Mercosur MEPs and group leaders also exerted a lot of pressure, especially EPP chair Manfred Weber and S&D boss Iratxe García. “I know Manfred put a lot — a lot — of pressure on his various delegations,” said a senior Parliament official. TURNING ON EACH OTHER The one surprise of Wednesday’s vote, according to four Socialist officials and the third Commission official, was the 10 Romanian Socialist lawmakers who, instead of abstaining, ultimately voted to take the Mercosur agreement to court after feeling heat from the far right at home. “In S&D, Romanians and Greeks became more extremist because of agricultural protests only in the last weeks,” said a Socialist MEP, granted anonymity to speak about his peers. Another lawmaker lamented that Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu — a Socialist — had not lobbied her fellow Romanians “to help her friend Ursula.” The Hungarian EPP members were also a wild card. Many expected their seven votes to be counted as abstentions, while others anticipated they would vote in favor of freezing Mercosur because the country goes to the polls in April. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has portrayed the Hungarian EPP party, Tisza, as a Brussels puppet, and ahead of the vote accused them of undermining farmers by supporting Mercosur. Then there were the Spanish EPP lawmakers, who in the last few weeks had raised doubts about their previously strong support for the deal. They hardened their rhetoric on Mercosur in Madrid to fend off the far-right Vox ahead of three key regional elections in agricultural regions — though ultimately they voted against bringing Mercosur to court. The EPP leadership plans to obtain their support when the time comes to ratify the deal. Spanish People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Thursday came out publicly against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s call for the Mercosur agreement to be provisionally applied even though the Parliament had sent it to court. Merz’s position is shared by EPP chief Weber. That sets Europe’s biggest party on a collision course, just a day after a heated meeting of all EPP lawmakers in which different national delegations traded accusations. One center-right official described the session as a “shitstorm.” The fact the leaders of the Polish, French and Slovenian factions within the EPP voted against the party line was the “biggest disappointment,” the EPP’s Zovko said. The rebels “need to reflect on their own behavior,” added EPP lawmaker Herbert Dorfmann. French and Irish lawmakers in the Renew Europe group were also scolded at a group meeting described by a person in the room as a “bloodbath.” Lawmakers blasted the party president, Valérie Hayer, from France, as well as the Irish first vice-president, Billy Kelleher, for voting against the group line, accusing them of “betraying” liberalism. A major clash is also looming between Germany and France, with President Emmanuel Macron’s government having come out against any provisional implementation of the trade deal that would bypass the Parliament, labelling it a “democratic violation.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow not to use military force to take Greenland, while warning that Europe must exert its own power as the world becomes a more far more dangerous place. Calling it “good news” that Trump said he would drop the Feb. 1 tariffs he’d pledged to slap onto European countries over Greenland, Merz nonetheless said Washington was “radically reshaping” its foreign policy, shaking the foundations of the international order. “This new world of great powers is being built on power, on strength, and when it comes to it, on force,” Merz said Thursday during an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “It’s not a cozy place.” Merz urged European nations to move swiftly to boost their defense spending and economic competitiveness in order to be able to exert power amid the “tectonic” shifts in the global order. At the same time, he urged Germans and other Europeans not to give up on the transatlantic alliance and NATO, advocating, in effect, a middle path. “Despite all the frustration and anger of recent months, let us not be too quick to write off the transatlantic partnership,” Merz said, switching briefly to German. “We Europeans, we Germans, know how precious the trust on which NATO is based is.” Merz sounded particularly grave about what he framed as the dire risks of the world entering a new era of great power rivalry. “The world where only power counts is a dangerous place, first, for small states, then for the middle powers, and ultimately for the great ones,” he said. “I do not say this lightly. In the 20th century, my country Germany went down this road to its bitter end. It pulled the world into a black abyss.” MERCOSUR A MUST FOR MERZ The German chancellor used his speech to set out a three-pronged plan for Europe to assert itself in the new world order: invest “massively” in defense, make its economies more competitive and stay united. Merz argued that Europe must secure new trade deals around the world to boost its economic competitiveness, pitting the EU in direct opposition to Trump’s tariff policies. “Europe’s trade ambitions are crystal clear,” Merz said. “We want to be the alliance offering open markets and trade opportunities.” Europe, he went on, “must be the antithesis to state sponsored unfair trade practices, raw material protectionism, tech prohibition and arbitrary tariffs. Tariffs again have to be replaced by rules, and those rules need to be respected by trading partners.” Merz said that  both Germany and Europe have “wasted” opportunities for growth in recent years, including by failing to implement an EU trade deal with the Mercosur bloc of South American countries. The chancellor sharply criticized the European Parliament’s vote this week to send the accord for a judicial review, a move which could delay the trade deal by up to two years, putting pressure on the European Commission to provisionally apply the agreement. Merz said there is “no alternative” to the deal. “We will not be stopped,” he added. “Most likely, this agreement will provisionally be put in place.”

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Donald Trump nutzt seine Rede beim World Economic Forum in Davos für eine klare America-First-Botschaft. Weniger eskalierend als befürchtet, aber ohne Zugeständnisse an Europa. Die zentrale Frage: Was folgt daraus für die transatlantischen Beziehungen – und was ist Europas Antwort? Gordon Repinski mit der Einordnung von Trumps Auftritt, die Erwartungen an Friedrich Merz und der wachsende Handlungsdruck auf Europa. Dazu im Gespräch: Jonathan Martin von POLITICO in Washington. Er ordnet ein nach welchen Mustern Trump agiert und warum Börsen und Märkte dabei eine größere Rolle spielen als diplomatische Appelle. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht die stellvertretende SPD-Fraktionsvorsitzenden Siemtje Möller über Grönland, europäische Souveränität und die Frage, ob Europa mehr tut als nur zu reagieren.  Anschließend richtet sich mit Hans von der Burchard der Blick nach Brüssel: Beim EU-Sondergipfel treffen die Staats- und Regierungschefs aufeinander, um über Zölle, Sicherheitspolitik und die durch das EU-Parlament abgelehnte Mercosur-Ratifizierung zu beraten. 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