The Union and the SPD want to launch 200 million euros in additional winter aid for Ukraine. The coalition factions want to submit a proposal for “excessive spending” to the Bundestag, according to government circles.
According to “Politico” information, 100 million euros will come from the budget of the Foreign Office, and another 100 million from the Federal Development Ministry. The Budget Committee is expected to approve the proposal next week. The money is intended to support, among other things, Ukrainian power plants and other civil infrastructure, which are repeatedly the target of Russian attacks.
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda is also expected at the Chancellery on Tuesday. His meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) at 10:15 a.m. will focus, among other things, on the EU budget talks, European competitiveness, possible EU enlargement and Russia's war against Ukraine. Later on Tuesday, Merz will receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he announced during an appearance at the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The background is the planned new negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the USA want to meet in Abu Dhabi possibly at the end of this week. Discussions had already taken place there in the spring, but without any significant progress.
For Merz there is therefore a lot to coordinate with the Ukrainian side. Germany is one of Kiev's most important supporters and, together with its E3 partners France and Great Britain, is demanding participation in the negotiations.
Ukraine supports European participation, but different signals have recently come from Moscow. The US attitude is also open. At the same time, Washington is dealing with possible deals relating to Russian gas deliveries to Europe. It is therefore possible that Germany, France and Great Britain will only be marginally involved in talks in Abu Dhabi.
It is also unclear how great the prospects of a quick breakthrough are. Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far shown no willingness to end the war quickly. Moscow continues its attacks on Ukraine and maintains far-reaching war goals. It is therefore unclear whether an agreement can be reached at the G-20 summit in Miami in December.
There are also different ideas about the subject of possible negotiations. Moscow wants to talk about the “European security architecture” and has long been calling for a fundamental reorganization of the security order in Europe, including a rollback of the NATO presence in Eastern Europe. The Europeans, on the other hand, are demanding a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Strack-Zimmermann: “Europe has a duty”
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the European Parliament, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), has called for a stronger role for Europe in security policy with a view to the war in Ukraine. “Europe has a duty,” said Strack-Zimmermann in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. This applies especially to Germany and other large European countries. "And we have no alternative to that, because anything else would be life-threatening for us. And if we want to continue to live in freedom, then we have to take this very, very seriously."
The FDP politician is congress president of the Berlin Security Conference, which opens in the capital on Tuesday. The two-day meeting will focus on the war in Ukraine and warding off threats from Russia.
Strack-Zimmermann sharply criticized US President Donald Trump's Ukraine policy, accusing him of having his business interests in mind. "He is also sending his son-in-law (Jared Kushner, editor) to negotiations in Russia and Mr. Witkoff (Steve Witkoff, special representative of US President Donald Trump). They are not diplomats, it is simply about business," she said. “And that is of course a tragedy because business is being done at the expense of the victims.”
The Europeans must draw the conclusion from this that they should “become more independent again,” emphasized Strack-Zimmermann. “This self-image that if there are problems, the USA will do it, that will no longer exist, even if Trump will be a thing of the past at some point.”
