PARIS/BERLIN (our own report) – Germany is sounding out Jordan Bardella of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, seeking an understanding in the event of RN’s victory in the French presidential election next April. It was recently revealed that Bardella met with the German ambassador to France in February – the first ever official contact with an RN politician. Bardella announced in an interview with a leading German daily that, following an election victory, he intends to cooperate closely with the German government wherever possible. Migrant and refugee control should, he said, be a key area of cooperation. He praised Germany’s border control policy. Bardella, who leads in polling on next year’s presidential election, is backed by the media empire of the far-right billionaire Vincent Bolloré. Bardella is advised on economic affairs by a close associate of Bolloré’s, Pierre-Édouard Stérin. And the RN leadership is now in talks with a number of leading French business figures, not least the heads of Airbus, TotalEnergies and Renault, along with the CEO of the LVMH luxury goods group, Bernard Arnault, who is the richest non-American in the world. Bardella says he wants reconfigure the European Union and push back against German dominance. Read more

AACHEN ‘german-foreign-policy.com’ spoke to Ulrike Eifler about the growing trade union struggle against militarisation and the threat of war. Eifler is a trade union secretary in Würzburg and has been campaigning for years for a resolute peace orientation on the part of trade unions. This, she points out, is so critical because “when society is militarised, the world of work will be militarised, too.” And this is being felt “right now” as a consequence of an “unprecedented arms built-up” being driven forward by the German government. There are already so many impacts. Nurses, for instance, are having to learn how to treat war wounds; and job centre staff are being trained to place the unemployed in Bundeswehr roles. The trade unions need to be much bolder in addressing these issues. After all, every advance they have achieved, from pay rises to the work-life balance, have only been possible in peacetime. Trade union pressure “doesn’t work in wartime”, Eifler says. She flags up two important upcoming events: the fourth Trade Union Conference for Peace on 24–25 July in Würzburg and the International Conference Against War being organised by the labour movement on 20 June in London. Read more

BERLIN/SARAJEVO/WASHINGTON (own report) – German politician Christian Schmidt (CSU) has been the UN’s High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2021 but is now stepping down from his post. Schmidt spoke informally to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about his decision on 10 May. He intends to make an official announcement to the respective United Nations body today, Tuesday. In Sarajevo, the country’s capital, Schmidt faced resistance to his role from the outset. On the one hand, he appeared to harbour a certain affinity with Croatian nationalists; and on the other, he had become the first High Representative to take office without the consent of Russia. Consensus with Moscow had previously always been sought. What is more, he operated in office by making frequent use of powers of intervention that lack any democratic legitimacy. His actions were widely perceived as colonial-style interventions by a foreign governor. Now, however, it is the Trump administration that has ousted him. Trump and his entourage are pursuing business interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the gas and raw materials sectors. They are doing so in close cooperation with Schmidt’s arch-enemy Milorad Dodik, the strongman of the Republika Srpska. Recently received in Washington, Serb leader Dodik is eying close cooperation with Trump and his inner circle. Read more

BERLIN (own report) – German defence strategists have presented a new concept paper for German and European rearmament. Entitled ‘Sparta 2.0’, it pursues military independence from the United States. As the paper’s authors point out, “no European combat mission” is currently conceivable without “software or systems” from the United States. Washington must be asked for authorisation. They want to break free from military dependence within a few years and are confident that European states can do so. But it would, they say, require the political will as well as a huge funding commitment: up to 500 billion euros would be needed in the first decade of the arms build-up. This, the authors claim, is financially feasible. On the specifics, they identify ten “strategic capability gaps” to be closed, including some – such as the mass production of drones and the development of satellite constellations – on which German weapon companies are already making rapid progress. The path to “European defence autonomy” lies in “the commitment of Germany’s financial and industrial resources”. This roadmap to remilitarisation reflects an ever-closer intertwining of German policymaking and German think-tanks with the burgeoning defence sector companies. There are particularly close links with the now booming drone industry. Read more

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (own report) – Talks on the EU-US trade deal ended in Brussels late Wednesday night without a conclusive resolution. The European Parliament has reservations and is yet to finalise the agreement. A number of lawmakers want to include safeguards having seen that Washington cannot be trusted. The US side has already breached the handshake deal made last summer by unilaterally raising tariffs on certain exports. What is more, the entire understanding on trade arrangements was called into question by Trump’s threats to annex Greenland. The American president is now threatening to raise US tariffs from 15 to 25 percent on automobile imports from the EU if his trade deal is not immediately put into effect. Reports from insiders to the talks make it clear that the initial deal was effectively dictated by the US last summer at Trump’s Scottish golf course. There were no serious detailed negotiations. The terms of the deal met with strong protests from France and elsewhere in Europe. Calls for sealing the existing deal as quickly as possible are being voiced above all by Germany’s automotive industry, which is in the throes of a dramatic crisis. This is why German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is keen to get it over the line. With across-the-board tariffs of 15 percent on EU exports to the US, on the one hand, and completely duty-free access for US exports to Europe, on the other, it is a tough deal for the EU that will permanently enshrine unequal economic relations. Read more

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (own report) – Following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would not be stationing medium-range weapons in Germany, calls are growing louder in Berlin for Germany to accelerate the development of its own cruise missiles. The capability of striking Moscow would, it is argued, be a must. Trump declared at the end of last week that he would be withdrawing five thousand American troops from Europe. He also declared a reversal of the long-planned decision to deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles or similar weapons. The move has been widely interpreted as a punitive response to critical remarks made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about the US war on Iran being a blunder. Berlin is concerned about the lack of any medium-range strike-force, which would mean that Russian command centres could not be eliminated in the event of war. Trump’s decision will, it is claimed, leave a painful gap in the war plans being prepared by Germany and other European states. Consequently, a push has begun to redouble efforts to produce Germany’s own cruise missiles with a range of over 2,000 kilometres. On the other hand, Trump’s move might not be final. He faces criticism within the US military establishment. There are voices expressing concern about steps that would weaken the infrastructure of the US armed forces. Strong capabilities, like those available at the Ramstein military base, are needed to maintain America’s global war options. Read more