Author: staff

Trump, who made NATO burden-sharing a cornerstone of his campaign rhetoric, doubled down on the 5 percent target in recent remarks from the White House. When pressed on the fact that even the U.S. doesn’t hit that threshold — Washington currently spends around 3.4 percent of GDP — Trump waved it off: “We protect them. They don’t protect us,” he said. “I’m not sure we should be spending anything at all.” While Pistorius acknowledged that Germany will need to spend more on defense in the coming years “more than the 2 percent of its economic output that this government has…

The Israeli prime minister will be the first foreign leader to meet President Trump since he returned to office for a second term. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed Tel Aviv on Sunday morning for the United States, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.Netanyahu said the pair will discuss “victory over Hamas,” countering Iran and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries. The meeting will mark Trump’s first with a foreign leader since returning to office for a second term, which Netanyahu said stands “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”It seems the Israeli prime…

The agreement has achieved a pause in the 15-month Gaza war. Under the deal, Hamas will free hostages abducted during the militants’ brutal October 2023 assault on Israel, which left about 1,200 people dead and triggered a massive Israeli offensive that has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians. In exchange, the Israeli government will release Palestinian prisoners.  In Tuesday’s meeting, “we’ll deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region: victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components,” Netanyahu posted on social media site X, which is…

Trump has linked the levies to irregular immigration and cross-border flows of the opioid fentanyl, which has driven a surge in overdose deaths in the U.S.  Beijing pushed back, saying: “China hopes that the U.S. side will objectively and rationally look at and deal with its own fentanyl issue and other issues, rather than threatening other countries by means of tariffs at every turn.”  China’s statement is far less specific than the immediate responses from Mexico and Canada, whose leaders ordered countermeasures on Saturday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would impose 25 percent tariffs on goods worth roughly…

ROME — Italy’s UniCredit has bought a stake in insurance giant Generali Group, according to two people familiar with the matter, adding another twist to a byzantine banking battle brewing in Italy’s north. Generali is in the crosshairs of several competing groups, including the Rome-allied billionaire Del Vecchio and Caltagirone families, as well as Milan-based investment bank Mediobanca. UniCredit is separately trying to take over Milan lender Banco BPM, in which both groups also own a stake. One of the people said that while the purchase of a stake by UniCredit was not an outright attempt to exert leverage over the…

Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry updated the death toll to nearly 47,500, of which one-third are children, according to the United Nations. The U.N. estimates another half-million children have been displaced since the war began. As part of the cease-fire agreement, Israel and Egypt also opened the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, for the first time in months. Scores of Palestinian patients were able to access medical treatment, including 30 children with cancer. In Cairo, the Arab nations of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement hailing the temporary truce and praising “the appreciated…

In October, the government also attempted to circumvent these rulings by drafting a new list of 19 countries deemed safe for repatriation, including Bangladesh and Egypt. Since the inauguration of the two centers in Albania on Oct. 11, the project has received accolades from European leaders, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praising it as “an innovative solution” and asking other EU leaders to draw “lessons from the Italy-Albania protocol.” At the same time, however, the plan has drawn widespread criticism from opposition politicians, as well as human rights organizations and legal experts. “The feeling is that the…

The U.S. president refused to comment on whether he had already spoken with the Russian leader on the matter and when their last conversation had been. Trump also declined to comment on the role of China in facilitating a dialogue with Putin. On the campaign trail before he won the U.S. election in November, Trump repeatedly boasted about how fast he could end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. president claimed earlier this month that a meeting with Putin was being set up, though the Kremlin said no substantial preparations are under way. Putin on Jan. 24 said he is open…

Trump-backing tech billionaire Elon Musk has thrown his weight behind the AfD, recently interviewing Weidel on his X social media platform. He has sparked outrage for saying Germany should move on from its guilt over its Nazi past. This week, he celebrated the parliamentary moves to tighten the country’s borders and Merz’s decision to use AfD support. What is at stake?  Merz’s campaign for the chancellorship, for one thing. Until now, his CDU has had a solid lead, albeit one that is narrowing, over the AfD. The events of the last few days could change everything.  Will the CDU’s decision to…

Gordon Repinski spricht in dieser Extra-Ausgabe mit der Gründerin und Namensgeberin des Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht über das Scheitern von Friedrich Merz bei der Asylwende-Abstimmung am Freitag, die Abgrenzung des BSW zur AfD und schwächelnde Umfragewerte des Bündnisses vor dem Wahltag im Februar.  Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen euch jeden Morgen auf den neuesten Stand in Sachen Politik — kompakt, europäisch, hintergründig. Und für alle Hauptstadt-Profis:Unser Berlin Playbook-Newsletter liefert jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Hier gibt es alle Informationen und das kostenlose Playbook-Abo. Mehr von Berlin Playbook-Host…