Mr Merz revealed plans for two changes to the debt brake, a constitutional provision in place since 2009 that lets the government run only minuscule structural deficits. Next week parliament will be recalled to vote on them.

Premier takes flight in the rarefied atmosphere of diplomacy, daring to go where no man — or woman — has gone.

Germany has finally decided to join the party – but Europe may come to regret it. After two decades of limited borrowing and fiscal restraint, Europe’s biggest economy is finally joining the

Friedrich Merz (left), leader of the Christian Democratic ... Warsaw on the European stage "could frustrate" Giorgia Meloni's Italy, "which traditionally sees itself as the third leg of the ...

The parliamentary elections in Germany followed the predicted lines. The conservative centre-right Christian Democrats under Friedrich Merz became the

For his part, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader and Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed victory ... the vote – or in the case of Italy, run the country.