PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE explains why opposing war is inseparable from defending jobs, wages and public services – and why readers should come to the London Peace Conference on Saturday June 20
THE two vessels which headed every federal German government since 1949 are being sucked into a political maelstrom.
Elections to the European Union‘s Parliament in May gave the “Christian Union” a measly, chilly 28.9 per cent.
Though still Germany’s biggest, its keel is wobbling. With mumbling about Angela Merkel’s views and health (sharp eyes and tongues have twice noted her hands trembling), the hunt is on for a new captain, with no promising candidates in sight.
Its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), whose turbulent, rarely valiant history traces back to 1869, suffered far deeper immersion in that EU election whirlpool, with only 15.8 per cent. Recent polls give them 13 per cent.
NICK WRIGHT returns to Berlin and finds a city in darkness and political turmoil
The federal government’s plans to finance the war in Ukraine with Russian assets, and a possible deployment of German troops, put the population in Germany in the highest danger, argues SEVIM DAGDELEN
US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT


