Overview
- Economy Minister Katherina Reiche on Friday dismissed SPD plans as expensive, weak and legally doubtful, and she rejected a windfall profits tax on oil firms.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz signaled he was "befremdet" by the public clash and urged restraint, with coalition leaders set to keep negotiating over the weekend.
- Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is pushing a price cap modeled on Luxembourg, a temporary cut to the energy tax and a windfall profits tax, while Reiche argues for tools like a higher commuter allowance and a short‑term diesel tax cut.
- Following Thursday evening’s Dortmund siege, police used special forces to arrest a 33‑year‑old after shots were fired in a bicycle dispute, later finding several mock‑firearms, a machete and a baton, with a drug test positive for amphetamines and THC.
- Bremen’s homicide unit has detained two men, aged 35 and 37, in a mid‑March fatal shooting case in the Kornstraße, and investigators are still examining each suspect’s role.