Overview

• At Schloss Ettersburg, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius joined East German state leaders for talks on directing more defense-related work to the region.
• The premiers adopted a resolution urging that production and maintenance capacities be built up in the East, citing needs along NATO’s eastern flank.
• Pistorius endorsed expanding sites in eastern states and said an investment conference with the defense industry and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs will be convened soon.
• Merz committed to more frequent follow-up meetings, while Thuringia’s Mario Voigt described a “new togetherness” and highlighted opportunities beyond classic armaments in areas like cyber, optics and medical support.
• Constraints remain as procurement law does not allow regional quotas and most existing sites are in the West, and political resistance surfaced with Thuringia’s BSW finance minister Katja Wolf rejecting a role as a “workbench” for the arms industry, echoed by Sahra Wagenknecht’s criticism of militarization.