Overview

• EU heads of state meet in Copenhagen today to coordinate a response to a surge of drone overflights across Northern and Eastern Europe that several governments suspect are Russian hybrid probes.
• The European Commission’s plan would mobilize about €140 billion from frozen Russian assets via Commission-issued debt to provide loans to Ukraine, a move that still faces legal and political scrutiny.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has signaled support for the financing proposal and has framed the security climate with the line that Germany is not at war but no longer in peace.
• German officials are preparing legal changes to strengthen air-security and policing powers for drone defense, while state authorities, including in Schleswig-Holstein, investigate recent suspicious flights over critical infrastructure.
• At home, Andrea Nahles urges simplification of Bürgergeld rules and Reiner Haseloff calls for a broad ‘Grundjustierung’ and warns of AfD gains, underscoring parallel pressure for domestic reforms.