Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
Friedrich Merz has been confirmed as the new German chancellor, despite an earlier humiliating defeat in the Bundestag, when he failed to get enough votes to confirm him in the office (10:09, all times in CEST).
Despite his “black-red” coalition of the CDU/CSU and the SPD formally having 328 votes at their disposal, he initially got only 310 votes in favour – six short of the required majority (10:18).
This was the first time a chancellor-designate failed to get confirmed in the first round of voting in postwar history of Germany.
But after frenzied consultations behind the scenes, he later secured the necessary majority in the hastily arranged second vote on Tuesday afternoon, with 325 votes in favour (16:18, 16:20).
The new chancellor has picked up his certificate of appointment from the country’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier (17:27) and is now going through all formalities needed to put his government fully in place (16:35, 17:49).
Despite the unexpected delay, Merz seems to be set to carry on his plans to visit France and Poland on his first full day in the office tomorrow, as he wants to send the message that “Germany is back” and ready to offer stability in Europe (17:04, 17:30).
His appointment was welcomed by European leaders offering to work with him on a broader European agenda (16:54).
Here’s the full story by our Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole:
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
I’m back tomorrow to cover the conclave. We are likely to need more than one round of votes there, too!
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
EU unveils plans to be 'completely free' from Russian gas by end of 2027
And speaking about the EU, the European Commission has unveiled a plan to be “completely free from Russian gas” by the end of 2027, almost five years after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a roadmap to ending Russian energy imports, the EU executive called on member states to prevent new contracts with gas suppliers and stop existing spot contracts by the end of the year. It proposed banning imports of Russian pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) under long-term contracts within the next 2.5 years.
Dan Jorgensen, the EU’s energy and housing commissioner, said the plan would “finish the job” of cutting reliance on EU imports of Russian energy, which came to €23bn in 2024.
“No more will we permit Russia to weaponise energy against us,” he said. “No more will we allow our member states to be blackmailed. No more will we indirectly help fill up the war chests in the Kremlin.”
The EU has sought to kick its decades-long dependence to Russian fossil fuels since the war in Ukraine, introducing sanctions that effectively banned coal and oil imports as it slowly reduced reliance on gas. The new proposals, which for the first time set an end-date for gas, include further measures to crack down on the Russian “shadow fleet” circumventing oil sanctions and restrict imports of uranium used in nuclear reactors.
Svitlana Romanko, executive director of Ukrainian climate group Razom We Stand, welcomed the proposals but criticised the absence of a clear spot market trade ban as a “major political failure.”
“Without mandatory certificates of origin for LNG, the EU cannot close the biggest loophole in its energy sanctions: Russian gas traded on short-term spot markets. These untraceable shipments continue to fuel the Kremlin’s war while quietly entering EU ports.”
The Commission said the gas restrictions in the new proposal would have a “limited” impact on gas prices because of reductions in overall gas demand driven by renewables and energy-saving measures; increased global supplies of LNG and new European terminals to receive shipments; and new gas projects in Romania and Azerbaijan.
Greenpeace campaigner Thomas Gelin called on governments to do more to boost renewables rather than buying fossil fuels from other countries such as the US. The Trump administration has pressured Europe to buy more of its LNG as part of an escalating trade war.
“Keeping money flowing to Putin’s war chest for these fuels is scandalous, but the Commission risks replacing one disastrous dependency with another – unplugging Putin’s gas and plugging in Trump’s,” he said.
