Why is Merz so invested in supporting Ukraine? | Berlin Briefing Podcast

Daniel Goffart, Journalist, WirtschaftsWoche

He's driven by his opinion that you need leadership in Europe. If you have 27 different countries and you go to the summit without any idea, without any concrete proposal, you will not reach anything. So, his idea was to make a proposal that one can follow, and he hopes that they did, and it was 50-50. But, at the end, the problem in my eyes is not that the Chancellor made a proposal. The problem is that the European countries were not willing to show solidarity. That's the main problem, in my eyes. And what about the question how Europe can sit [at] the table in further talks with Russia and the US? As long as they have their hand on the frozen assets, and they will keep frozen until the war ends, they are sitting [at] the table because, like [DW Chief Political Editor] Michaela [Küfner] said before, the Americans are calculating with these €200 billion because they want to build a recovery fund, and they want to make business in the reconstruction of Ukraine after a war, and without the money, they hardly can do it.

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