Overnight Washington pressure set the agenda, with editors framing a Brussels EU summit around US Starlink throttling for Kyiv, Senate demands for explanation and attacks on Zelenskyy. By afternoon coverage hardened into a verdict that Trump was withdrawing support ahead of midterms, leaving an irritated Zelenskyy among European leaders and questions over limited EU help.
Domestically the Bundestag approved the FrĂĽhstartrente, ten euros monthly per child from age six, prompting calculations over whether it could build wealth.
The CDU's Deutschlandtag exposed strain over Merz, with the Junge Union demanding proof, deputy Clara von Nathusius exiting after Brandmauer criticism and financial revelations, and Hendrik WĂĽst urging the coalition to pull together amid poor polls.
In Berlin the Left leadership declared no common basis with Vanessa Emde, reopening the antisemitism dispute that had frozen red-green-red explorations.