Merkel

Addressing the Bundestag, Merkel said that vaccination is progressing better and better, that the number of infections is declining.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the public to stay vigilant during the "difficult" winter ahead, saying that 2020 was the toughest year of her tenure. She also confirmed she will not seek reelection in 2021.

"I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that never in the past 15 years have we all experienced such a difficult year," she said in the annual address that is broadcast to millions of people.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban had a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, with the discussions aimed, among others, at the situation of Romanian seasonal workers in Germany.

The head of Angela Merkel's cabinet told local media that she does not think the plans of the German Chancellor not to run for a fifth consecutive term have changed, BNR reported, citing Reuters.

Helge Braun's statement comes after an article in the Bild newspaper that Merkel might have changed her decision to step down.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge. Overcoming it in the EU, which is highly integrated, is impossible without coordinating efforts, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two discussed measures to combat COVID-19. Germany is interested in the protective clothing and equipment manufactured in Bulgaria.

Chancellor Angela Merkel in a rare nationally televised address today urged all German citizens to help fight the spread of the coronavirus by sticking to rules aimed at reducing direct social contact and avoiding as many new infections as possible.

Referring to government sources, national broadcaster ARD said, Merkel in a pre-recorded statement wanted to inform the Germans where the country was and remind them what they could do to help slow the spread of the disease, Reuters said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said negotiations on Britain's future relations with the EU will not be easy and have vowed to help the EU succeed after Brexit, the Associated Press reported.

Britain's exit from the European Union tonight is "a difficult parting for all of us, the 27 EU Member States and Germany," Merkel said in a video message issued by her cabinet.

From the start of the crisis, meetings between successive Greek prime ministers and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have acquired particular importance. It was clear that Germany, as Europe's greatest power and Greece's largest creditor, played the leading role in the Union's course and, to a great extent, determined developments in Greece.