Foreign
German vice chancellor cancels COP28 visit due to budget crisis
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on Monday cancelled a trip to the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai due to the budget crisis at home.
The move follows a landmark court decision earlier this month that blew a huge hole in the government’s spending plans.
Habeck’s presence in Berlin is necessary in order to make further progress in the talks on the 2024 budget, a spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry announced.
The cancellation was done in consultation with and at the request of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, she added.
Habeck, who is also economy and climate minister, was due to participate in the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Tuesday.
A recent decision by Germany’s Constitutional Court struck down plans to reallocate 60 billion Euros (65 billion dollars) borrowed during the Coronavirus pandemic for climate projects instead.
The fallout from the decision, which almost certainly impacts other special funds as well, has created a major budget crisis for Scholz’s three-party coalition government.
Negotiations on the budget is currently taking place primarily in a three-way round with Scholz, Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
The coalition must reach an agreement within the next few days if it wants to adopt the budget for 2024 before the end of the year.
A political agreement in principle must be reached by the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday so that there is still enough time for the parliamentary process.
Habeck, had earlier told Germany’s ARD television station on Sunday evening that he sees progress in the negotiations.
“I am very optimistic that we are well on the way to reaching an agreement,’’ he said.
When asked if this meant that he wasn’t sure that the coalition would reach an agreement, Habeck said: “I can’t speak for everyone. But I repeat that I believe we are making good progress.’’
“It is a process that is arduous, one can see that, but it is making progress,’’ Habeck added.
German authorities have arrested three teenagers aged 15 and 16 on suspicion of plotting a deadly Islamist terrorist attack in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, prosecutors said on Friday.
The state’s Central Office for the Prosecution of Terrorism (ZenTer NRW) sought an arrest warrant for the teenagers over the Easter holiday.
They were suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in accordance with the aims and ideology of (extremist militia organisation) Islamic State.
The detained suspects are a 15-year-old girl from Dusseldorf, a 16-year-old girl from the Märkischer Kreis district and a 15-year-old boy from the Soest district, located about 100 kilometres to the east of Dusseldorf.
A fourth suspect has reportedly been identified in the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg, and the local court there has issued an arrest warrant.
According to the investigators, the teenagers are accused of having agreed to commit murder and manslaughter.
This is in conjunction with the preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state.
The presumption of innocence applied in all stages of the proceedings.
Security sources told newsmen that the young people had formed a chat group, but had not drawn up a concrete attack plan for a particular time and place.
However, sources said the cities of Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Cologne were discussed as targets, and attacks with knives and Molotov cocktails on people in churches or police officers in police stations had been considered.
The sources said authorities had also conducted searches as part of the investigation.
A machete and a dagger were seized in Dusseldorf, but no evidence of the construction of incendiary devices was discovered.
Sources said the father of the Dusseldorf suspect had already attracted attention from authorities in the past because he had allegedly collected donations for the Islamic State.
The investigators declined to reveal how the suspected terrorists were tracked down, but said that foreign intelligence agencies “did not play a role.”
Russia on Monday officially recognised Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidential elections in March, a vote that he is all but certain to win.
The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent.
The Central Election Commission said it had registered Putin, who nominated himself, as well as right-wing firebrand and Putin-loyalist Leonid Slutsky as candidates for the vote.
The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult.
Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, Putin could stay in power until at least 2036.
Rights groups say that previous elections have been marred by irregularities and that independent observers are likely to be barred from monitoring the vote.
While Putin is not expected to face any real competition, liberal challenger Boris Nadezhdin has passed the threshold of signatures to be registered as a candidate.
However, it is still unclear if he will be allowed to run, and the Kremlin has said it does not consider him to be a serious rival.
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