Overview
- Addressing roughly 400 guests at the centuries-old state banquet, Angela Merkel said Europe must take its fate into its own hands and stay both militarily strong and diplomatically engaged on Ukraine.
- She reiterated she had wanted to try once more to negotiate with Vladimir Putin in 2021 and argued that only combined military and diplomatic strength can ensure Russia does not prevail and Ukraine remains sovereign.
- Merkel called for greater European independence in digital technologies and said economic capacity, a stronger single market and new trade agreements, including with India and Mercosur, are vital.
- Hamburg’s mayor Peter Tschentscher criticized President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and defended free trade as the city upheld the tradition of inviting one German and one foreign guest to the world’s oldest ongoing feast.
- European Council President António Costa praised the rapid deployment by EU states after the drone attack on Cyprus and warned that Iran-related escalation and a blocked Strait of Hormuz threaten stability, urging renewed diplomacy and a rules-based order.