German chancellor Friedrich Merz has insisted his government’s support for Israel is conditional – but that Berlin will not back any European Union sanction plans over Gaza.
The 69-year-old German leader took office 10 weeks ago promising recession-beating domestic reforms – but his days are dominated now by US tariffs, EU finances and a judicial appointments row.
At a press conference on Friday, however, it was close questioning over Germany’s Israel policy that tested Merz’s temper.
Weeks after the centre-right chancellor adopted a more critical tone towards Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, he struggled to explain the political consequences.
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“I’ve never made my own the idea of unconditional support [for Israel], we support the country but we say – clearly and firmly – what we think of certain developments,” said Mr Merz.
Germany saw the suffering of the Palestinian people, and did its best to help, but the Merz administration would not shift in its opposition sanctions against Israel.
Berlin is not alone in the EU, he insisted, in opposing sanctions that include the suspension of an EU-Israel association agreement as backed by Ireland and others.
Asked about Berlin’s differing stances on sanctions towards Russia and Israel, the chancellor pointed out that, in February 2022, Russia invaded a neighbour posing no threat. This was, he said, a “fundamental difference” to Israel’s military strategy after the Hamas-led attacks of October 2023 that saw 1,200 Israelis killed and about 250 taken hostage.
“Israel is defending itself against attack. If it hadn’t, then [it] wouldn’t exist any more,” he said, adding it was “forbidden” to compare the Israel-Hamas conflict with the Russia-Ukraine war. “Israel has been threatened for decades and, since October 7, we know this threat is bitterly serious.”
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With two weeks left to avert the Trump threat of 30 per cent tariffs on EU imports, the German leader suggested trade talks were now in damage-limitation mode.
“It is unrealistic is to think we will emerge with 0:0,” said Merz, noting the Trump administration needs tariff income to compensate for recent tax cuts. “We’ll have to get used to having an asymmetrical tariff agreement but hopefully with as low rates as possible on both sides.
Turning to the EU, Merz rejected European Commission plans to boost the bloc’s future finance plan by almost two-thirds to €1.8 trillion, financed in part by new EU-level taxes and levies.
Merz said he didn’t dispute the EU needed a larger budget and sources of income to address new global challenges, even if many such challenges have become the new normal.
“But I don’t share the view that expanding the budget is only possible with more debt and, as in the view of the commission, with corporate taxes,” he said. “We rule this out, this is not a path we are willing to go down.”
After a brief summer break, Merz has promised a busy autumn, including root-branch welfare reform and resolution of a coalition row on constitutional court appointments.
The latter has rattled Germany’s consensus approach to senior judicial appointments. And a failed vote last week marked the second time in two months that MPs in the chancellor’s own Christian Democratic Union rebelled against the party whip.
On Friday, Merz insisted his coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party “stands on a stable foundation” but the two failed votes show “we are living in uncertain times”.
For Germans on, or returning from, their summer holidays, the Merz message was: buck up, work more and embrace a can-do attitude.
“I would say our glass is three-quarters full,” he said, “and we have to manage the rest.”
