
AI-generated summary
The coalition is preparing for the crucial budget day and has agreed on a compromise.
The electricity tax cut is not coming, but neither is the sugar or plastic tax: the coalition is entering the crucial budget day with a compromise. A problem remains.
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US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow to brief him on the three-way talks in Abu Dhabi. They will then travel to Dublin to meet Volodymyr Zelensky at the ninth summit of the European Political Community. There were further Russian airstrikes in Ukraine, including ballistic missiles on Kiev and a drone attack on Chornomorsk that killed at least four people.

The Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico accuses Friedrich Merz of blackmail because the Chancellor wants to oblige all EU states to support Ukraine. The SPD supports Merz in the Ukraine budget dispute.

The federal government has agreed on a tax compromise: the electricity tax will remain unchanged and the planned taxes on sugar and plastic will not be introduced for the time being. This is intended to secure the federal budget for 2027. A reduction in electricity taxes would have brought an average of 80 euros per household per year.

The 43-year-old Democrat Scott Colom has won the Senate election in Mississippi, making him the state's first black representative in the US Congress since 1881. He defeated the Republican incumbent Hyde-Smith after days of counting. The Democrats now have 55 seats in the Senate.

After their victory in the US midterm elections, Democrats in Congress want to exert greater control over President Donald Trump's government. White House Counsel William O. Scharf warned Representative Robert Garcia against overstepping legal boundaries in investigations and subpoenas and spoke of possible “criminal” activities. Garcia refused to be intimidated. As of January, the Democrats will have majorities in both chambers.

The Bundestag's Budget Committee is discussing the 2027 federal budget with planned expenditure of around 555 billion euros and loans of 118.7 billion euros. The Union and the SPD have agreed on a compromise, but the reduction in electricity tax to the European minimum demanded by Chancellor Friedrich Merz has failed for the time being because there is no financing for the approximately 5.4 billion euros.