The German government has again weighed in with strong criticism of the latest US sanctions bill.
The latest comments have come from German Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries, who is reported by Reuters to have said the following
We consider this as being against international law, plain and simple. Of course we don’t want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures.
Shortly after the joint statement of the German and Austrian foreign ministers angrily denouncing the new sanctions against Russia voted on by the US Senate, Angela Merkel has added her voice to the protest and is making her opposition to the latest sanctions clear.
In her usual Sphinx like way Merkel avoided making a statement herself. However her views have been made known by her spokesman Steffen Seibert in a briefing earlier today
Angela Merkel’s CDU party has a won a surprise victory in the state election in North Rhine Westphalia setting the scene for what now looks like her inevitable re-election in four months time.
News that a recent opinion poll has put the SPD for the first time one point ahead of Angela’s Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc has inevitably triggered speculation about whether or not she is now in serious danger of losing the forthcoming German parliamentary elections.
The SPD’s decision to select Martin Schulz, the German President of the European Parliament, as its Chancellor designate in this year’s German parliamentary elections, has stirred some speculation of a more substantive challenge to German Chancellor Merkel’s CDU party from the SPD.
Germany Ruled by the Atlantik-Brücke
While Germany’s two largest parties, the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU /CSU) led by Angela Merkel and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), are negotiating terms to form a so-called “grand coalition” for the third time in history, one major policy is already predetermined, the strong transatlantic partnership with the United States.
