The German media hosts a lot of comments, but also analyzes about whether this is a personal defeat for the German chancellor or a compromise from which he himself does not come out so badly.
The European leaders’ decision to jointly lend 90 billion euros to Ukraine and not to use the frozen Russian funds, as the chancellor was pushing, is considered a clear move to support Kiev that also sends a strong message to Moscow that Europe is not ultimately in decline, as Russian propaganda likes to present it, but at the same time this compromise itself can be seen as a defeat of all those who supported the original proposal to use the Russian frozen funds, led by Mertz himself.
The moderate estimates
Thus, according to the German News Agency (dpa), if no agreement on Ukraine was reached, “it would be a failure for Chancellor Mertz, who already in September, unexpectedly, found himself in the vanguard of those who supported the divestment of Russian assets. Now he may not have passed his original plan, but he secured Ukraine’s funding nonetheless.” Accordingly, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “a middle ground was found between Mertz and De Wever. Both announced a successful outcome.” These are moderate – perhaps the closest to positive – assessments of the result in the German media.
Critical of Mertz big media
On the contrary, major media such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) estimate that the final agreement was a “defeat for Mertz”, who “failed to impose his plan to support Ukraine. On the contrary, Putin has every reason to be happy.” Spiegel moves along the same wavelength, which estimates that “Chancellor Merz did not get what he wanted”, as well as Die Welt, whose response from Brussels is entitled: “Black day for Friedrich Merz”.
What does he say himself?
For his part, however, Mertz himself, in his post on the subject, presented the development almost as a personal victory, writing to X that:
“The financial package for Ukraine is ready: Ukraine will receive an interest-free loan of 90 billion euros, as I had proposed. This sends a clear message from Europe to Putin: this war will not be worth it. We will keep Russian assets frozen until Russia compensates Ukraine.”
The financial package for Ukraine is in place: Ukraine will receive an interest-free loan of 90 billion Euros as I suggested. This sends a clear signal from Europe to Putin: This war will not be worth it. We will keep Russian assets frozen until Russia has compensated Ukraine.
— Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (@bundeskanzler)
The Zelensky reaction
However, the reaction to the decision of the European leaders and the directly interested party, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who, commenting on the development, emphasized that: “It clearly helps Ukraine and sends a message to the Russians that there is no point in continuing the battle, because we have financial support and thus we will be able to continue our resistance against Russia.”
