Merz goes to Spain amid Israel differences – DW – 09/18/2025

Germany’s Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, has approved its 2025 budget, greenlighting a total of €502.5 billion ($588.25 billion) in expenditures.

The budget came after fiscal reforms were loosened to allow the government to take on more debt. The budget will see almost €82 billion in new borrowing. 

The 2025 budget envisions record investments in the areas of defense and infrastructure.    

The 2026 budget is expected to be debated on later this year. 

Philipp Lahm, the former captain of Germany’s national football team, who was also chief organizer of Euro 2024, is to receive the Order of Merit on October 1, the office of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday.

“Philipp Lahm is one of the defining personalities of German football, both on and off the pitch,” the statement said. 

“As head of organization for the 2024 European Championship in Germany, he contributed significantly to the success of the entire tournament. The fact that the European spirit could be experienced so directly in the stadiums is also thanks to his ability to always inspire rather than polarize.”

The statement also highlighted Lahm’s social engagement, while adding that “team spirit, respect, and fairness are also the values he promotes in numerous honorary positions and which he teaches at his home club FT Gern as assistant coach of the U11 team — because they are important pillars of democracy.”

Among other things, Lahm, who also captained the Bayern Munich team, heads a foundation that supports underprivileged children in Germany and South Africa. 

Germany’s main journalists’ union, the DJV, has called on major US media companies to support journalists after US broadcaster ABC pulled the show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” off air after its host  made comments on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that some US conservatives deemed disrespectful. 

“We are observing a rampant erosion of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the US,” DJV head Mika Beuster said in a statement on Thursday.

He said media companies should, unlike the ABC, give full support to the journalists they employ, saying that such “servility towards Trump will not bring them peace, but will result in further pressure.”

US Republican leaders and conservative commentators have threatened negative consequences to those Americans who, in their view, fail to mourn Kirk’s death with sufficient respect. Some people have already been dismissed from their jobs or suspended for online comments they have made and Vice President JD Vance said people should call the employers of fellow citizens who disparage Kirk.

Trump himself has put increasing pressure on media companies to toe his ideological line, in some cases filing lawsuits against outlets for reporting critically on him and his actions.

Measures introduced by Germany’s coalition government to speed up approval procedures for new housing appear to be having an effect, with a 30% rise in permits issued for the construction or conversion of new flats in July this year compared with the same month a year previously.

Altogether 22,100 permits were issued in July, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Destatis said 17,800 of the flats approved in July 2025 are to be part of new buildings — a rise of 33.2% compared to the same month last year.

Germany is currently suffering from a shortage of affordable housing, particularly in metropolitan areas.

Last year, 251,900 flats were completed in Germany, the lowest number since 2015.

In the past year, cyberattacks on German companies, many of them carried out by state actors, have caused losses of nearly €300 billion ($355 billion) to the economy, a survey published on Thursday said.

According to the survey by industry group Bitkom, half of all companies in a position to trace the provenance of attacks had identified Russia and China as sources, while around a quarter said they came from other EU countries or the US.

“The trail leads relatively clearly and unambiguously to the east, with two countries at the forefront: Russia and China,” said Ralf Wintergerst, Bitkom’s head, as he presented the survey at a press conference.

Most of the damage was caused by ransomware — malicious software that prevents data being accessed until a victim pays an often very high sum.

The survey said 34% of the 1,000 companies in the survey had suffered such attacks, up from 12% in 2022, with one in seven of them paying a ransom.

Legal costs and the costs of remedying damage from cyberattacks also made up a considerable part of the losses incurred.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is to travel to Madrid on Thursday on his first visit to Spain since taking office in May.

His talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez are expected to focus on European political issues and security policy,

But one issue could possibly cause contention between the two leaders despite the generally good relations between their countries: that of policy toward Israel amidits offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in retaliation for the deadly attacks the group led on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Although both leaders have sharply criticized the Israeli military operation, which has led to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Germany has so far rejected imposing any sanctions on Israel beyond curbing some arms exports.

Spain, however, has taken a far more proactive stance.

In 2024, it joined South Africa’s lawsuit at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide, the first EU member to do so.

Sanchez also in September announced a complete arms embargo and a travel ban “for all those individuals directly involved in the genocide, human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza.”

The meeting between Merz and Sanchez comes as the EU mulls sanctions, including revoking free trade benefits and punitive measures against extremist Israeli lawmakers and settlers. Merz has not yet announced his position on the proposals, made by EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Wednesday.

The cliche about Germans being plagued by anxiety and fear about the future seems less true than ever, a new survey has shown.

In fact, it is a rather down-to-earth matter of making ends meet that has most people in Germany concerned, while levels of general fearfulness in German society appear to be going down, despite the current global tumult and crises.

You can read more here: German fears: Rising cost of living tops list of concerns

As German parliamentarians prepare to vote on the 2025 budget put forward by the coalition government, the opposition pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) have criticized the borrowing it would entail.

Party leader Christian Dürr told the DPA news agency that the government’s debt policy was “the biggest declaration of war on the young generation” ever seen in Germany.

The spending plan, which is expected to be passed on Thursday, includes nearly €82 billion ($97.2 billion) in new borrowing. The Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, is also expected to pass a special fund for investments worth €500 billion that is also financed by debt.

Dürr argued that much of the money in the special fund would not go toward new projects but bolster old ones.

He said that by taking on this “exorbitant debt,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz was taking “the path of least resistance, just to avoid necessary radical structural reforms.”  

Merz and his government have said the increased debt is necessary to make Germany more resilient to face current economic and security challenges. 

Dürr’s comments are not likely to have much effect on voting in the Bundestag on Thursday, as his FDP failed the reach the 5% threshold in the most recent federal elections and currently has no representatives in Germany’s lower chamber of parliament. 

Guten Morgen from DW’s newsroom in Bonn.

Today, we will be looking at a vote at the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on the 2025 budget 

We’re also expecting to hear from an insurance company about Germans’ biggest fears of the year. 

In other news, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is traveling to Madrid this afternoon. He and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will share their differing opinions on policy toward Israel and Gaza.