Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said yesterday that military and financial support for Ukraine was of "existential importance" to Europe, defending defense spending commitments as Berlin confronts a domestic budget crisis.

Germany has been one of the Ukraine's biggest backers along with the United States, Scholz said, supplying Kiev with weapons to battle Russia's invading forces.

After falling into recession at the beginning of the year, it seems that Germany will end the year in the red and at the bottom of its Eurozone competitors, reports Bosnian Klix.

On his many visits to semiconductor factories and electric car plants, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz bangs the drum for an economy at the forefront of an industrial transformation.

But the picture painted by business leaders and experts is less rosy, predicting hard times to come for Europe's largest economy.

The large number of refugees from Ukraine who fled the war with Russia contributed to the increase in Germany's population by 1.3% last year, bringing the number of citizens in the EU's most populous country to 84.4 million people, the Associated Press reported.

Belgian police and German investigators carried out a raid on Tuesday at the headquarters of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) as part of an investigation in Germany.

The party, which has the most members in the European Parliament, said in a statement that representatives of authorities from Belgian and Germany had visited its headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday accused Russia of blocking the delivery of a turbine needed to keep gas flowing via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe.

The unit was "available and working" Scholz said, standing next to the turbine on a visit to the maker Siemens energy.
"There is no reason why this delivery cannot happen," Scholz said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will embark on a two-day trip to the Western Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria next week.

The first stops scheduled for June 10th are Kosovo and Serbia.

Germany and Italy have reduced their troops the most, by 65 percent compared to 1990

Almost seven million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war. More than 4.100 civilians were killed, including 264 children, the UN said.
Nearly 5.000 people were injured, mostly in shelling and airstrikes.

Volkswagen Group acknowledged the incident in a statement but didn’t provide clarity on the cause