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2025-10-17 13:12:27
German Chancellor Angela Merz announced on the 16th that she would propose at next week's EU summit that she use frozen Russian Central Bank assets to provide Ukraine with an interest-free loan specifically for military equipment procurement. In response, several opposition parties in the German Bundestag called on the German government to halt arms supplies to Ukraine and instead engage in dialogue with Russia to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means. Søren Perlmann, co-chair of the Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, stated that the increased defense investment in the European Commission's proposed €2 trillion long-term budget will only benefit arms companies and not serve the interests of EU citizens. The EU should instead focus more on infrastructure development. Krupala, co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, stated that Germany has faced high energy prices in recent years and economic growth has struggled. Germany should restore friendly relations with all countries, including Russia, and resume importing Russian natural gas.
