Overview
- The session is scheduled for Thursday at 12:00 for roughly 90 minutes, with press statements planned afterward.
- Participants include Chancellor Friedrich Merz, ministers Lars Klingbeil, Katherina Reiche, Bärbel Bas and Carsten Schneider, state premiers from North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and Saarland, and industry representatives.
- CDU members of the European Parliament urge the government to back the Commission’s trade defense package and a tougher line on China, with coalition differences on China policy also in view.
- Regional leaders and SPD figures press for immediate cost relief, including a subsidized industrial electricity price and clearer energy cost planning to keep plants competitive.
- The EU proposal would sharply cut duty‑free steel import quotas and impose a 50% tariff on volumes above them, pending approval by EU countries and the European Parliament.