Overview
- EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday rejected Vladimir Putin’s bid to install former chancellor Gerhard Schröder as mediator, and Ukraine’s ambassador said Schröder lacks any moral or political legitimacy after Berlin called the offer a sham.
- Schröder’s years of work for Russian energy interests, including chairing Nord Stream 2 AG, drive concerns he could not act as a neutral go-between in talks with Kyiv.
- Following Friday’s Bundesrat vote against the tax‑free €1,000 employer payment, coalition leaders plan a Tuesday meeting to find replacement relief and try to mend strained ties between the Union and SPD.
- Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern premier Manuela Schwesig said the failed plan was unprofessional because states and social partners were not consulted and many small firms could not pay, and she urged a broader package to cut energy costs and ease taxes on lower and middle incomes.
- Accounts of the defeat describe a coordination breakdown that left the item on the Bundesrat agenda despite late efforts to pull it, while alternatives now under discussion include lifting the worker expense allowance, raising the commuter deduction, lowering the power tax for households and smaller businesses, or a targeted mobility rebate that would likely not pay out before 2027.