Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Saturday drew a direct link between immigration and an attack in Germany where a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people and injuring 200 others.

Alice Weidel, the long-shot chancellor candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany, slammed the European Union for destroying the country’s auto industry and proposed winding back the bloc to a free-trade zone.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Thursday that the threat of EU penalties on car manufacturers for violating climate targets must not become a burden on the struggling industry in the coming year.

The leaders of auto manufacturing hubs Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic pressured Brussels on Thursday to waive financial penalties on carmakers that miss EU emissions targets from next year.

A general election in Germany is expected in February 2025. In December 2024, Human Rights Watch wrote to political parties in Germany sharing an election briefing that sets out key priorities and recommendations on human rights for the next parliament.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed an assertion by Elon Musk that only a far-right party can “save Germany.”

Germany has won approval from the European Commission for EUR 4.06bn ($4.2bn) in subsidies to support the operation of four floating storage and regasification units which the country chartered in at speed and high rates following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

BRUSSELS — Germany's law banning its government from running up debt is more to blame for a lack of investment than EU spending rules, the European economy commissioner said.

Clarkson said Germany has come to accept it must play a bigger role in defending not just its own interests but more broadly those of the European Union. “Increasingly, the concept of nation and the concept of being European blend together within the EU ...

These imports are disrupting global markets and undercutting EU producers, Bloomberg reported. France, Germany, and the Netherlands suggest stricter EU rules for verifying biofuel production ...

Swiss business welcomed a new deal to overhaul the country's relationship with the European Union, bringing Christmas cheer to an economy that is set to be one of Europe's most resilient in a challenging 2025.

It also reflects the challenges Europe faces in 2025 as it struggles with a faltering economy, leadership crises in France and Germany, and, most ominously, Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency.