Germany

Friedrich Merz says Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for direct peace talks with Kyiv is insufficient. The German chancellor says a ceasefire with Ukraine should come first. 

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz won the vote to become chancellor in the second round of voting.

The victory comes hours after Merz lost the initial vote, The Associated Press reported. He received 325 votes on the second ballot.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned a decision Friday by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to classify the political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a right-wing extremist organization, calling the move “tyranny in disguise.”

“What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes,” Rubio wrote in a post on X in the hours following the decision.

Alliance for Germany (AfD) has been declared a "proven right-wing extremist endeavor" and "not compatible" with a free democracy by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, unlocking new surveillance powers to keep tabs on the party.

AfD, which wants to see large-scale deportations, has repeatedly denied that it is an extremist group and says it is representing the views of most Germans on issues like mass immigration, Islam, and traditional Christian values.

Germany faced a political crisis after Friedrich Merz failed to secure enough support in parliament to be confirmed as the country’s next chancellor in a first round of voting, triggering fresh uncertainty in Europe.

The outcome of the vote has no precedent in postwar Germany and came despite Merz’s proposed coalition holding a relatively comfortable 12-seat majority in the house. Since the vote is secret and no dissenter has come forward, it isn’t clear why a dozen members of Merz’s proposed coalition didn’t back him in the vote.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has filed a lawsuit against the country's agency tasked with protecting the constitution after it designated the party as "right-wing extremist" last Friday.

Daniel Tapp, a spokesperson for the AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel, told dpa news agency that a letter outlining this was sent to the responsible administrative court in Cologne.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Friday designated the AfD as a right-wing extremist organisation.

Friedrich Merz failed to be elected German chancellor Tuesday, after he fell short of securing a majority in a shock first-round parliamentary vote.

Merz needed at least 316 votes to become chancellor and only 310 members of parliament voted in his favor. Germany’s Bundestag has a total of 630 members.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency on Friday designated the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as an “extremist endeavor,” a move that lowers hurdles for the spy agency in conducting certain kinds of surveillance on the party, the second-largest in Germany’s parliament.