a but closer to the election, mertz ruled out a coalition with his nationalist populace, rivals choosing instead to address the problems that have boosted their popularity, fixing the economy and reforming germany's immigration policy. big admin history houses here. the israel is the point tanks to the old supplies westbank for the 1st time and move in 20 years. it's a major escalation and it's ministry action in the north. that's how grocery becomes more than a month. and 2, it's so peroration that has supposed to be displaced more than 40000 palestinians from the high end, as well as defense minister says the palestinians will not be allowed to return. and the troops will remain in several refugee comes full the next year. the numbers when the new occupied with bank forces, i'm moving deep into the refugee camps, destroyed terrorist infrastructures eliminate terrorist and i will stay there as long as necessary. the minister of defense, and i instructed the commodities to clear out the refugee camp and come out here for the 1st time. in decades, the tanks have entered this lanes. one th

the closer to the election, mertz ruled out a coalition with his nationalist populace rivals choosing instead to address the problems that have boosted their popularity. fixing the economy and reforming germany's immigration policy, made admin history houses. here. the ukraine's lead to below demands lensky says he's willing to give up his presidency in exchange from may to membership relations between the us and russia. have altered significantly on the president. donald trump, who has so full knowledge in the last 2 years, out of discussions on the ukraine rule. charles dropped 3rd has this report from cave up to will when months of ukraine policy changes on the you as president donald trump. after watching your scramble to adjust to a new reality or for you crazed president, someone motion they to lead is cool here of, but trump goals a dictator. who had this to say, yes, you want to know if it's about peace and ukraine and he really wants me to leave my position. i'm ready to do this and exchange for peace. secondly, i can exchange it for nathan membership. if there is such an opp

he's promised to steer germany back on course, but how old friedrich mertz navigate the choppy waters of germany's economic slump? the country's finance is once heavily reliant on cheap gas from russia and exports to china, or floundering. germany's business model merch declared was now gone. he might never have been a government administer, but much promised a clean break from the census politics that's dominated the countries, the federal government in recent times, not just in the economy, but on issues such as immigration and green energy. utility will boss gets also on the c d o needs a new beginning and the change, the cd. you need to forward looking political discussion. and this means in my view that the cd you must clarify its identity. born in west germany, to a prominence conservative catholic family mertz was a cd. you member of the european parliament and became chairman of the parties parliamentary group. when ongoing, merkle came to power, he left frontline politics and went to work in the private sector as a lawyer, but merciless resignation prompted mertz to reignite

so mertz hoping he can form a government with just one other party.inal calculations aren't yet in. >> a few busy days ahead for you and that election takes place this weekend. it's been two months since the assad regime in syria fell. human right organizations estimate that more than 100,000 syrians have disappeared since the uprising began in 2011 with more than 3,000 being children. the bbc has found evidence that some children who were detained with their families were then transferred to orr fannages by orders of the security center. >> all that is left for their families to remember. the faded photos of their missing children. human rights organizations in syria say hundreds disappeared under the assad regime. desperate to find them, relatives gathered to their cause is not forgotten. >> i went to visit artia and his wife who are searching for frustrations of their missing daughter heba and her two girls. sham and islam. they were 4 and 5. they were taken in 2014 while living in a suburb of damascus when security forces raided their house, takin

a but closer to the election, mertz ruled out a coalition with his nationalist populace rivals choosing instead to address the problems that have boosted their popularity, fixing the economy and reforming germany's immigration policy. big admin history houses here. the ukraine lead to the ultimate lensky says he's willing to give up his presidency in exchange for need to membership relations between the us and russia level to significantly onto president donald trump. who has those falsely left cheese. i will have discussions on the train. will charles trump fits how's this report from keith approval? winter months of ukraine policy changes under you as president donald trump. after watching europe scramble to adjust to a new reality for ukraine's president, someone motion they to lead is cool, a hero, but trump goals the dictator would have this to say. you have shown what it is. okay? if it's about peace and ukraine, and he really wants me to leave my position, i'm ready to do this and exchange for peace. secondly, i can exchange it for nato membership. if there is such an opportunity

mertz who might want to just reform it. left party wants to do exactly the wrong things with the money. to get them to agree to do the right things with the money, that is to have a pro business party agree to a lasting rise in military spending and then confronting russia and ukraine, the left party would be difficult. if mertz had that compromise on his progress reforms, more welfare, higher taxes on the rich rather than the opposite, that would compromise his progrowth agenda. once again, it is possible. there are ways around the debt break issue but it is going to be complex and not easy and probably not fast. lisa: are you more optimistic or last optimistic than you were on friday about the german economy in the years ahead? holger: relative to what the opinion polls predicted on friday, i'm slightly less optimistic. i'm slightly optimistic mr. mertz can institute reforms put it would be difficult for him to get the fiscal space for the things that need to be done. these are serious questions. jonathan: appreciate your

a born in west germany to a prominence conservative catholic family mertz was a cd. you member of the european parliament and became chairman of the parties parliamentary group. when ongoing merkle came to power, he left frontline politics and went to work in the private sector as a lawyer. but miracles resignation prompted mertz to reignite his political ambitions. pitching himself as a cd used next leader, and one closer to its core political message. mertz became known for his hard line stance on immigration, in contrast to marco's decision, to welcome more than 1200000 refugees and asylum seekers in 2016, to his promise, to tighten the asylum laws in the wake of the attacks and south germany. left many fearing he would enter into a coalition with the far right f e party. breaking the tradition of main screen. political parties never doing deals with the far right. but closer to the election merch rolled out a coalition with his nationalist populace rivals choosing instead to address the problems that have boosted their popularity, fixing the economy and reforming

use next leader, and one closer to its core political message. mertz became known for his hard line stance on immigration, in contrast to marco's decision, to welcome more than 1200000 refugees and asylum seekers in 2016, to his promise, to tighten the asylum laws in the wake of the attacks and south germany. left many fearing he would enter into a coalition with the far right f e party. breaking the tradition of mainstream political parties never doing deals with the far right. but closer to the election merch ruled out a coalition with his nationalist populace. rivals choosing instead to address the problems that have boosted their popularity, fixing the economy and reforming germany's immigration policy. paid admin future houses here. still a has here on, i want to say around the search for the missing. we speak to work cuz sifting through bubble for the remains of palestinians killed by is really attacked in garza, the for the inhabitants of indonesia is remote islands. health care is home delivered by so 1st nurses and for them to use because of to nurse hands over the readings

friedrich mertz who is in pole mertz who is now in pole position to become the next german �* hailedtion campaign. the far alternative for far right alternative for germany is become germany is expected to become the second biggest force in the country. hello. is an amberwarning in force through till 6am. we could see further flooding in these areas to take us keep an eye on conditions if you are heading out. crossing the country, stalls and wriggles around across the south—west with rainfall pepping up through the evening into the early hours. winds still gusty around it, around 40—50mph gusts with some strong gusts in the north—west of scotland. elsewhere, the winds ease down through the night, or 10 to the south and east. across parts of wales and england, the cloud breaking across northern england. still a blustery day with gales in the western isles, the sunshine out through the afternoon, it should still feel quite pleasant, with temperatures around 10 to 13 celsius — a little bit above where we'd be at this stage normally at the end of february. as we go into monday night, we'

that's the that cook friedrich mertz could have cooperated the afd, what cooperated—with the afd'whathis j in germany of this firestorm in germany and abroad and it was a little surprising given what happened on that he narrowly vote but 5 vote but i j vote but i it 5 that some of the members shows that some of the members of his own caucus as well as his parties like the free his own parties like the free the liberal party, democrats, the liberal party, that they are second that they are having second thoughts about this strategy he been taking. 77: has been taking. that is ou has been taking. that is on m even from his own caucus second thoughts. i �*whatd thoughts. i �*what you )ughts. i �*what you think;. i �*what you think all of wonder what you think all of this for his political this means for his political fortunes as we head into that election next month snap election next month clearly she has —— because clearly she has been —— had been trying to carry some favour with his electric trip through these potential 77 but tv buti 77 but i wonder if 7' ' ’ bdé rang?” this b'epesal

in his first term, president trump took spectrum seriously and opened up more mega-mertz for commercial -- mega-hertz, for commercial use, but the biden administration did nothing. they called for a number of studies but committed to freeing up zero mega-hertz of spectrum. i'm glad that spectrum will get the attention it deserves. broadband expansion is another priority that will require action. the $42 billion bead program was created moor than three years ago yet it has still not connected a single household to the internet. why? because the biden administration overloaded it with conditions that made it unworkable for a lot of telecoms. things like climate conditions for subcontractors, rate regulation, and union labor requirements, none of which -- none of which, i might add, were in the law. mr. lutnick has pledged to finally get this program off the ground and spend that money only on action broadband infrastructure. we can compete to be the leader in artificial intelligence, mr. lutnick agrees we should use the tried and true approach. just last week vice president vance spoke in

on sunday, the the i will look the as the leader fully expects, uh the likely future chestler mertz and is kristen democrats to start stealing her party policies like the kid in class? you copies your answers, i'll tell it everyone out of how much it sucks. he also points out that so when it comes to keeping populous out at any cost, suddenly the establishment left and right have absolutely no problem hopping into bed together. um, no doubt that mattress will seem way too small way too fast. in any case, germany has taken a hard right turn. you can say is this feels familiar is because we have seen this movie before. specifically, the french version, back in 2007, france elected in equal estimate was these establishment right when party only for voters to ditch the establishment altogether last year and throw their weight behind populace. notably on the rights in european and national elections. and germany seems to be following that say script friedrich mertsa is christian democrat, so angela marco's old party one. let's do actually live 29 percent of the vote. mostly thanks to older v

german voters go to the polls on sunday, and a final leaders' the conservative friedrich mertz is on

you know, it feels like this strategy from friedrich mertz has backfired.eally focus on migration over the economy at a time when germany's economy is struggling so much. now, today, throw into the mix these tariffs from the us and the prospect of tariffs on europe, on germany. are we going to see a pivot from the cdu? >> well i. >> think what he what we are going to see today is that he's rallying the troops behind his position because there were also ten members from the cdu law, parliamentary group, which actually objected his motion or the bill on friday. so i guess the biggest uproar is that he openly was willing to get those the bill through parliament, with the support of the afd. as such, it's not such a big problem. the afd has been regularly voting for certain bills, but i guess that he openly said, i want to push it through no matter what it cost, has caused to that major uproar. and also like protests across the across the country where people were concerned that he might also be willing to form a coalition with the afd, which the cdu is obvious

coalition government will have to be formed with the cd you as the senior partner it's leader, frederick mertz has said he hopes to complete that by april the we heard from a number of german voters who say that a lot of things really need to be looked at closely if the country is to move forward. phones is most of that has to be a change here because things can't go on like this in our country, from the economic situation. so many other things we see this is fundamentally important team for me. so main issues for me are internal security. that foreigners should simply leave here again. but they don't do anything. you know, they only cost us money and also ukraine. we have nothing to do with that. it's of no use to us. we must stop doing this. we have to keep our money for ourselves. yeah, the old government was basically bad and something should definitely happen now where people say, okay, germany is moving forward again and is not so marginalized and has not been laughed at by everyone or has to be accepted again from a politician lawyer and former european parliamentary and for the a f d g

no, it's leader frederick mertz said he hopes to complete stop by your pro, but shuffler shoals, the company leader has already ruined his party. it's all and he talks the f t also seemingly won't be in the frame as the person democrats previously, but not to work with the brewing political force for weeks. many helping predicting mr. merch will take the top job. so the, the, the, the little german voters we heard from say, a lot of things really need to be looked at closely if the country is to move forward on this most. that has to be a change here because things can't go on like this in our country, from the economic situation. so many other things we see this is fundamentally important information. the main issues for me are internal security. that foreigners should simply leave here again. you know, that they don't do anything. do you know that they only cost us money, you know, and also ukraine. we have nothing to do with that. it's of no use to us. we must stop doing this like we have to keep our money for ourselves. yeah, the old government was basically bad and something sho

thought enough to work together for weeks, many helping, predicting that cd you leader, frederick mertz, will take over the chestler ship all the country on it. indeed, not appears that will happen. so let's take a closer look at just who he is and on what you found the on the well, in terms of reaction from citizens themselves, the german folders helping thing. a lot of things need to change. really. if there are countries to move forward phones, this must be, that has to be a change here because things can't go on like this in our country, from the economic situation. so many other things we see this is fundamentally important information. the main issues for me are internal security, that foreigners should simply leave here again, but they don't do anything. do you know that they only cost us money, you know, and also ukraine. we have nothing to do with that. it's of no use to us. we must stop doing this like we have to keep our money for ourselves. yeah, the old government was basically bad and something should definitely happen now where people say, okay, germany is moving forward

but opinion polls put in well behind the conservative block led by fried rush, mertz houses 0 step voss and reports from berlin. in germany's new chancellor will not only face an ailing economy by the rapidly changing world order question. democratic lead, a free police next step to become the new leader of europe's largest economy. send a message to 0, b, and capital and washington. the recent is the else got the most important task of the next federal government and the person who heads this federal government will be to once again vigorously the fail, jeremy's responsibility in the european union under no circumstances can things remain as they all. now, we must, and we will change that. they are friends, the strong message, also from outgoing chancellor or life shows of the social democrats to us president donald trump, via that still time from stock is level 5. we're committed to a strong you were standing up for ukraine because it mustn't be left alone. not just because they were minimal as the for the growing fall right. considered pro russian could complicate germany's leadershi

uh the likely future chancellor mertz and is kristen democrats to start stealing her party policies like the kid in class. you copies your answers, i'll tell it everyone else how much it sucks. he also points out that so when it comes to keeping populous out at any cost, suddenly the establishment left and right have absolutely no problem hopping into bed together. um, no doubt that mattress will seem way too small way too fast. friedrich mertsa is christian democrats, so angle americans, old party, one let's see. election of 29 percent of the vote, mostly thanks to older voters in western germany. meanwhile, younger voters, particularly in eastern journey, lots to the as i stablish ment, left and right, which is basically a flashing neon signs for where things are headed in about a decade. but for now much claims he has to form a coalition that represents all germans, except apparently the ones in the east to over. well, i'm only voted for the populace, right? me alternative for germany or f t e, which came in the 2nd. the 21 percent merch also insist that the world is waiting for him.

mertz was very clear. he is going to uphold the so-called firewall, the principle that the mainstream parties do not cooperate with the far right. that is despite the vice president calling for that firewall to be torn down. mertz is now heading into several weeks of coalition negotiations. analysts here say the most likely outcome is that he will go into government with the main center left party, the social democrats. that's likely to provide a pretty stable government for germany for the next couple of years. >> but those. >> same analysts are saying it could be storing up trouble for the next election in 2029, when you have the two mainstream parties in government together. it may be that voters who are dissatisfied feel that they have no choice but to turn once again to the extremes, guys. >> all right. nbc raf. >> sanchez, live from berlin. thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. i will say one thing that that has changed. you actually have the christian democrats who have taken a tougher line on i

are a tough move we've seen with the election yesterday of the german, the new german chancellor, mertz. she views that the transatlantic relationship is broken. allies in asia are watching this very closely with the trump administration, a big change from biden. and if i was taiwan or japan, australia, south korea, they're all watching this very closely. so it looks like an odd transaction. no of us policy us is considered the guarantor of their security in that region. and so i think it sense, very dangerous messages and who's the biggest winner out of all of this? i would say russia and china because we see all the things that they want a weakening of transatlantic relations of donald trump appears almost like an autopay kind of saying you have to sign this deal no matter what. not that long ago, people were choosing china with their belt and road program of debt track diplomacy . well, what donald trump is proposing for ukraine really looks a lot like that trapped diplomacy in my view. all right, that's the time we have it today. thank you. so much to all our guests peters on my us

alternative for germany and 2nd, olaf schultz is s p d, freeland. 3rd, yes, the use leader frederick mertz, is also took my many to become the next johnson, the most open leader. my son has again become the target of demonstrations demanding she resign and put an end to media censorship. protestors gathered this week in front of the pro western presidents offices in the capital kitchen. now, the recent bond on the sputnik molto but new side spark. the latest discontents with critics saying the move violates principles are free speech. the opposition socialist party, organized the raleigh. i'm just calling for parliamentary and early presidential elections to be held this year. here's what the locals have been saying about the incumbent. lead was to go to the current government is ruining people ruining our children, our future. we have come out against this government. stop. it's enough. you see what's happening in the world. where are you leading us to the slow to see we stand in favor of a good life throughout children for our grandchildren, so that they can have a normal life, a life th

frederick mertz stood head-to-head with them in the tv election debate just two heads -- two weeks ahead of the vote. both candidates outlined their strategies for dealing with donald trump. analysis with oliver crook in berlin. who won? >> these are two candidates not known for being the most exciting or best communicators so at certain points it was slow but it kicked off on one of the main debate, immigration, which is where merz wanted to land a blow on olaf scholz, but they quickly moved to this question of afd, a party on the german far-right, scholz saying merz would be willing to enter into a coalition with the afd, which is something that merz rejected, saying there is no overlap between the afd and cdu. one of the points was debt. that was centered around defense and oil. the defense obligations of germany and what needs to spend to get their defense and military to where it needs to be. olaf scholz says he cannot do this with the debt break in place. merz and the cdu have been sticking to the debt break. they did say they would be willing potentially to look at loosening the d

and 2nd, an overlap schultz is s p d, feeling quite a bit done in 3rd, the city use liter, frederick mertz is also tip. i've managed to become the next johnson, the or whatever they are. our sister german language channels, spoke with bender, stag member clowes, ernst from the on the globe list. so right by getting the deadlines party and an r t exclusive, he re some key issues. the upcoming fast approaching boat has bought and shop focused the eastern city. although the current candidate for the position of tron solo from the christian democratic union, a free drink a match. so it has not yet made a final decision for even before the election. he has made it clear that he intends to send taurus messiahs to ukraine. this would certainly lead to a further escalation of the conflict, and of course, we should expect a russian reaction. this is an unpleasant situation and we should try to avoid it. to match has not yet reached a final decision on this issue. as part of the election campaign of these, however, i fully believed to germany as well as the french british and americans needs to have

german voters go to the polls on sunday, and a final leaders�* the conservative friedrich mertz is onrse to become the next chancellor. hello, i'm christian fraser, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. since the october 7th attacks. this one will certainly weigh heavy in the the pictures from khan younis, which were not shown in israel, factions looking on. in an elaborate ceremony, in which the red cross forced to take part. who were kidnapped. shiri bibas. her and the nine—month—old, kfir. returned alive, last weekend. the fourth body is believed to be that of the journalist when he was taken. all four were abducted at kibbutz nir oz. hamas said they were killed, by israeli bombing. on x, the president "there are no words." some shared their reflections on the day. since october the 7th. that each of us carries, that maybe we could have done more, that maybe we did not do enough to prevent this tragedy. we are very sad that it has come to this, that we are returning bodies, and not really rejoicing of the kidnapped people, children and i

this was a big gamble by frederick mertz footing with the afd on an immigration bill, and that is theirst time were a mainstream party voted with the afd. this came to a lot of shock from the centrists, but it was also a poor showing because even for those who thought he was being pragmatic, the vote did not pass parliament because he could not get his own party and line, and the consequence is the cdu coming in at 8% -- 28%, and what it has not done is obviously he is trying to undercut the afd saying cdu can be strong on immigration. we saw a bit of growth for the greens and other parts of the political spectrum, so this is releasing largely as a political blunder for the cdu and as dented support and has not changed meaningfully in terms of who will be in the running, but did has created once again a fragmented political landscape in germany. it will be harder as these votes dissipate and all of these parties converge around 20% to bill the government when the time comes. lizzy: if we could link politics and the corporate dots, tesla sales in germany are at their lowest levels ever

will undecided voters in germany did the lead of frederick mertz? we will have analysis throughout the show. let's check in on these markets. asia in focus with a tech rally continuing. the earnings coming through from that e-commerce giant with a focus on the platform but also cloud leading into ai, saying the key priority for alibaba is agi, artificial general intelligence that stock is booming in the session and lifting the broader sentiment across the regional index. , now up .6%, set for six straight weekly gains. currently that stock and index up 4.8% and had crossed higher by 5%. the rally continues. european markets fell around .2% yesterday. there has been profit-taking across the u.s. space. we look for fresh catalysts. pmi data out of the euro zone will be coming through. european stoxx 50 futures pointing lower. ftse 100 futures pointing lower by six points. s&p futures after modest losses yesterday following around .4%, pointing lower by another .1%. nasdaq futures dropping run half percent yesterday. palantir was lower. walmart with a

. >> unless there's a major upset, germany's next chancellor will be fredrik mayer -- mertz.said he would tackle im-- >> i will only sign a coalition agreement that includes a turnaround on migration and the economy. >> shultz the outgoing chancellor signaled his willingness to get tough on immigration. >> perpetrators must be severely punished. if they have committed such offenses, then they must certainly expect that we will return them to their country of origin. >> the a.f.d. is regarded as beyond the pale by all the mainstream parties a they've greed a far war to keep the far right out of office. but can he create a stable government without the support of the a.f.d.? >> catherine is a german-american political scientist. >> if that coalition holds, strong enough in terms of its majority, then he can absolutely push out and sideline the a.f.d. now is that majority going to be stable enough for the a.f.d. to not hit the coalition with a lot of obstructionism and make life very hard? those numbers are very, very tight. >> helped by elon musk who declared his support by the

>> um, mertz even talked about the possibility of of germany having to rely on french and british nuclear protection because he worried that the united states would not actually come through. uh, do you worry about that, dejoy? would you worry about a germany that decided it needed to take its security into its own hands? given that poland has been a victim of german aggression over the centuries? >> we are good allies with germany. germany is our biggest trading partner. and but remember, germany is banned from having nuclear weapons by its unification treaty and also has a ceiling of, i think 300,000 troops. but we need a partnership in europe to deter putin to do our bit. and and this is this is happening. >> you know, one theory about what donald trump is doing is that he's trying to wean the russians off the chinese, off their tight alliance with, with with china. do you think you've you've traveled extensively to both places. you've been foreign minister for two. this is your second time around. do you think it would work? >> well, trying to do a kissinger in reverse is, of course,

friedrich mertz says that the first task of the new government must be to give germany more weight inuropean union. also, a quick programing note cnn will have complete and special coverage on the german election on sunday, starting at 6 p.m. berlin time. that's 5 p.m. in london. >> with allegra. >> i hope you can stop being sneezy. >> without feeling sleepy. get 0% brain interference for fast non-drowsy allergy relief with allegra, it's a no brainer. disney's snow white, in theaters march 20th. >> choose advil. >> liquid gels for faster. >> stronger, and longer lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels. because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. >> this is the emirates premium economy seat. economy. perhaps they need to call it something else. >> i feel like new sunglasses, like a brand new pair of jeans. brand new. >> one. more about celebrity cruises latest offers. >> saving for retirement was tough enough. and navigating markets can be challenging at times. >> i understand that's why at fisher investments we keep

mertz, who is leading in the polls, blames schulz's policies for fueling the rise of the afd. still to come, china is giving the united states a taste of its own medicine with new retaliatory action against donald trump's tariffs, raising concerns of an all out trade war. we'll explain. >> nothing is what it seems in the lockerbie story. >> lockerbie, the bombing of pan am flight 103 premieres next sunday at nine on cnn. >> amazing. >> jerry, you got to see. >> this saying that. trust me, after 15. >> walks. >> gets a little old. yeah. >> stop waiting. start investing. e-trade from morgan stanley. >> you'll love this. >> centrum silver is clinically proven to support memory in older adults. so you can keep saying you mastered it. you fixed it, you nailed it. you did it with centrum silver. clinically proven to support memory in older adults. >> can a personal loan unlock your ambitions? oh, yeah. consolidate bad debt and save money for your next goal. take a swing at your kitchen, reno. and that literally. or design your actual dream wedding. all your ambitions. all in one app

now it's leader frederick mertz. i said he hopes to complete stop by your pro, but shuffler sholtes, the company leader has already ruined his party. it's all and he talks the f t also seemingly won't be in the frame as the person deborah pronounced previously, but not to work with the brewing political force for weeks. many helping predicting mr. mertz will take the top job. so expect the, the, the, the with german folders we heard from say a lot of things really need to be looked at closely if the country is to move forward on this most. that has to be a change here because things can't go on like this in our country, from the economic situation. so many other things we see this is fundamentally important information. the main issues for me are internal security. that foreigners should simply leave here again, you know, that they don't do anything. you know, they only cost us money, you know, and also ukraine. we have nothing to do with that. it's of no use to us. we must stop doing this like we have to keep our mo

speaking in a moderated town hall in which the four main candidates face live questions from the public, mertz called the scenario unlikely, with schultz adding i want to remain chancellor. he wants to become it, and the voters will decide. a so-called grand coalition is a post election possibility. schultz has previously said he will not serve in the new government if his party is defeated in the polls. business leaders have called for more ambition from germany's new government, no matter the outcome of that vote. anita has been speaking to some of those business leaders and she joins us now from munich. anita. good morning. >> good morning. yes, indeed. >> i think if. >> you look. >> at all. >> these four parties. >> who are actually debating. >> and have. >> a chancellor. >> candidate. >> the likelihood is. >> very high. >> that the cdu. >> will be. >> first. >> according to any. opinion poll. >> we have seen in the. >> last month. but the key. >> question is. >> how to form a government. and here i think the small. >> parties will. >> play a pivotal role. >> especially if. >> the liberals

polls showing mertz in the lead. emmanuel macron is said to visit d.c.week, likely defending european interest around the world ukraine. annmarie: dani nailed it when we said maybe we'll see a europe leader. germany will be a practitioners government -- fractious government. macron is trying to step up to the plate to be the interlocutor between europe and the united states. he says he will have a message to donald trump on monday. telling him he cannot be weak in the face of vladimir putin. this is coming at a time where we have seen a lot of acrimony between solesky and donald trump. -- zelenskyy and donald trump. dani: you could get a leader out of germany to be the "leader of europe." for talking about joint issuance from the eu. they are free -- few europeans willing to see fiscal 30 to brussels. germany is going to brussels to try to get that done, it could be a different conversation. jonathan: we will see what we get when you wake up monday morning. another big change from another big bank. citi ending workplace d.e.i. goals. bloomberg attaining

. >> the front runner, mertz, i believe, is he more hawkish on russia or more dovish?, i think the question is now i think it really becomes an economic argument right now. and as i look at, you know, industries moving to the united states for access to cheaper energy, i think that is a really important economic issue at home. and again, depending on the terms of the deal, again, will there be a push to resume some russian flows for economic reasons? i think there is a case to be made for that. >> well, is it always a case to be made for having you on riyadh, saudi arabia? it's kind of where all the diplomatic roads end and airlines have met up. helima croft i know you're going there now, so i appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you so much, brian. >> okay. >> she called it the new switzerland. interesting. >> there's a lot going on. and halima sent a picture. there's the russian plane. is there? marco rubio. is there, egypt is there. there's a lot happening. europe and ukraine not there. so that's that's critical. >> of course, but it is the place to b

the leader of the cdu, frederick mertz, the head of the christian democrats, is saying he is hoping to form a government by easter. and we are already hearing from president trump, who is saying that the people of germany voted for common sense, in his words, on both immigration and on energy. alex. >> let me ask you quickly, quickly, the government that he formed, is there a proportional representation for the way the votes come out, party by party, in their version of a parliament? >> yeah, exactly. so that's why you have these complicated coalition negotiations to come. so the cdu looks like it's going to win about 30% of the vote. they're not going to have a majority in parliament on their own. they're going to have to cobble together some of the smaller parties. potentially, you're going to see the big center right party and the big center left party going into government together. and the far right is going to argue that that is a real crisis of democratic legitimacy and potentially the next election. they will try to capitalize on that, saying that they are the only alternative

right wing opposition parties are leading the polls, with friedrich mertz's conservative christian democrats30% and vidal's far right alternative for germany at around 20%. well, i am very pleased to welcome otto frisch to the program. member of the bundestag, fdp. sir, thank you so much for joining us this morning. really keen to hear your views on what's been happening around the world and within germany. let me kick off by getting your reaction to the us vice president's comments in munich at the start of the weekend. robert habeck said that vance's speech marked a turning point in the relationship between europe and the us. do you agree? >> no. >> i tend to differ. i mean, we're in election time. so even. >> though the weather is freezing, everything else is. >> heating up. it was an important speech. i personally. >> didn't like. >> that. >> he did it on that situation at the munich security conference because. he here we were really into other difficulties. but on. >> the other. >> side. >> keep in mind germany. >> wouldn't be germany as it is postwar and reunification. germany if ther

the latest polls have put mertz's center right party in the lead, while schulz and his social democratsrailing behind. in his closing statements, schulz or excuse me? in his closing arguments. rather, schulz said he was confident voters would back his party. >> i go by what you said at the beginning and what has already been discussed here. many people. >> are very undecided. >> i'm convinced that this time there will be something that has rarely happened to this extent in previous elections, namely that some people will go to the election into the polling booth and only. >> then decide. >> who and which party to. >> vote for. >> and i believe. >> that in. >> the end, many will vote for the spd. >> and give me a new mandate. >> to lead the next government. >> meanwhile, the cdu leader friedrich merz said his focus was on the key issues the country is facing. >> i am absolutely. >> certain of one. >> thing, regardless of who will. >> form the next federal government and how it will be composed. we have to solve. >> two major problems. >> in this country over the next four years. that is

so they'll be hoping to hear from friedrich mertz, he's so far seem to have made a clear that he wants to remain as a staunch backer of ukraine. but there are some decisions that needs to be taken. there's a paper circulating here among different you countries on options for how to ramp up that kind of support to ukraine. one of the options in the table is looking good joint debt, joint ball room to try and find out some massive increase in defense spending. that something they will be looking for. signs from on berlin, on high pallets, book that might be certainly be controversial in the past, in terms of it, german response to potential eager joint that yeah. math as shown, a much more hawkish stance when it comes to ukraine, especially when it comes to weapons deliveries. what does brussels expect from him and ears to com? yeah, we'll just stop chase, but that's comes into power at that time when the european union is, is experiencing a real tectonic shift. there's been so much debate here, but how exactly to respond, especially to us president donald trump, and we've seen over the

could frederick mertz grab that and be one of the people that has credibility from europe's biggest economyn behalf of europe? we will figure that out soon how strong his mandate is and how much of a presidency can commit on the european stage. jonathan: oliver cook out of berlin on the latest for germany and the continent on foreign policy. we have to talk about trade. how figure the tariffs going to be on the europeans? lisa: we will find out if the commerce secretary will get confirmed today. let's see who the people are on the ground with howard lutnick. jonathan: scott lincicome joins us now to talk about this. welcome back. let's talk about trade and the tension between the u.s. and europe. the focal point is them, taxes. that is not something we talked about years back. how big of an effect is that going to be? scott: it seems like it's a big factor if you listen to the trump administration. they have bought into the idea that the vat is discriminatory against trade. most economists will tell you that is wrong. vats are generally trade neutral or depressed exports a bit. the trump ad

would mertz have a similar response to scholz?rray, as we await what that trump tariff threat will look like, then the retaliation, and then the results of the german election. plenty to watch. coming up, we will have a check on the markets with janet mui. stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪ what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great question. like everything, it takes a little planning. or, put the money towards a down-payment... ...on a ranch ...in montana ...with horses let's take a look at those scenarios. j.p. morgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches and tools, like wealth plan to keep you on track. when you're planning for it all... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management. lizzy: good afternoon and welcome to bloomberg markets. we are watching major news around the world. in paris, a meeting with european leaders as official discuss ukraine and defense. in china, xi jinping weenie with prominent entrepreneurs including jack. first, let's check i

in his first term, president trump took spectrum seriously and opened up more mega-mertz for commercial -- mega-hertz, for commercial use, but the biden administration did nothing. they called for a number of studies but committed to freeing up zero mega-hertz of spectrum. i'm glad that spectrum will get the attention it deserves. broadband expansion is another priority that will require action. the $42 billion bead program was created moor than three years ago yet it has still not connected a single household to the internet. why? because the biden administration overloaded it with conditions that made it unworkable for a lot of telecoms. things like climate conditions for subcontractors, rate regulation, and union labor requirements, none of which -- none of which, i might add, were in the law. mr. lutnick has pledged to finally get this program off the ground and spend that money only on action broadband infrastructure. we can compete to be the leader in artificial intelligence, mr. lutnick agrees we should use the tried and true approach. just last week vice president vance spoke in