Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Sources say Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz cancelled a planned trip the UN General Assembly
- Police have found a large depot of firearms and ammunition in Rhineland-Palatinate
- Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is to hold talks with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, in Washington
- A Berlin woman is facing charges of supporting the ‘Islamic State’ terror group
Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on Tuesday, September 15, 2026:
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Skip next section Merz cancels UN trip over party infighting — reports09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Merz cancels UN trip over party infighting — reports
Government sources have told dpa and Reuters that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will not travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next week, saying, “Contrary to original plans, he will not travel to New York, since his presence is required in Berlin.”
The U-turn comes as pressure is piled on the chancellor over his party’s poor election showings in state elections.
The CDU got shellacked by Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 — leading the the far-right outfit to style the vote in the east German state of only 1.7 million voters as the beginning of the end of Merz’s conservative CDU, with Alice Weidel claiming the CDU is dead and demanding new elections.
Now the CDU is gripped by fear the party may not even make it over the 5% hurdle to enter the state parliament of eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which votes this Sunday alongside Berlin-Brandenburg.
Internal party sources say faith in Merz is fading with some saying he should step down, yet Cabinet members and state premiers have stepped up to offer support.
Merz has scheduled a party leadership meeting on Sunday in hopes of shoring up further support among state leaders, and on Tuesday he will sit down with the CDU/CSU’s parliamentary caucus in Berlin.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Mf9USkip next section Brandenburg BSW state lawmaker quits the leftist party, becoming the 6th to do so in 10 months09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Brandenburg BSW state lawmaker quits the leftist party, becoming the 6th to do so in 10 months
The left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) contingent of lawmakers in Brandenburg continues to shrink.
Oliver Skopec announced on Tuesday he was quitting the party, becoming the 6th of what was once 15 BSW parliamentarians to do so since November last year.
The first four left last November. When the former party leader at the state level, Robert Crumbach, quit in January, the state coalition between the BSW and senior partners the Social Democrats lost its majority and fell apart.
Skopec, a 41-year-old businessman said he wanted to retain his place in the state parliament and operate as an independent, at least at first.
He linked his decision to quit with the BSW’s character as what he termed a party of protest. “For me personally, that is not enough,” he said.
Tensions are high in the party as it wrangles with questions like how, or whether, to deal with the far-right AfD — particularly in Saxony-Anhalt after the recent election.
A senior BSW politician at the federal level, Niels-Olaf Lüders, said it was “regrettable” that Skopec was leaving, “but of course it doesn’t topple us either.”
The party’s chairwoman in Brandenburg, Friederike Benda expressed anything but regret at seeing Skopec go, saying it was “not a loss.”
“Separating the chaff from the wheat will help us,” Benda said, accusing Skopec of using his seat in parliament “as a comfortable, state-financed pillow” to rest on at the taxpayer’s expense.
In another eastern state, Thurinigia, the BSW group of parliamentarians has dissolved itself altogether and set up a rival group at the state level.
In Brandenburg, two of the six defectors left for the more centrist Social Democrats (SPD), and four set up a group they call “We for Brandenburg.”
Skopec did not say he planned to join them, but said “we will surely speak to each other.”
The BSW surfed a brief wave of popularity fairly soon after its foundation — and enjoyed big state election results in Thuringia and Brandeburg in 2024 as a result. But it has since lost almost all of its momentum and is fighting to survive, in large part because of the relative resurgence of the more traditional socialist Left Party in the run-up to last year’s federal elections.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Mf8BSkip next section Actor Ralf Richter, revered for roles related to his native Ruhr region, dies aged 6909/15/2026September 15, 2026
Actor Ralf Richter, revered for roles related to his native Ruhr region, dies aged 69
German actor Ralf Richter has died at the age of 69, his children Aline and Maxwell Richter said in a joint statement on Facebook on Tuesday. Richter was known to have been living with heart problems.
“For us a world has just stood still,” his children wrote in the notice, saying that for many fans their father was an actor, cult character and a face who had accompanied them for many years.
Born in Essen in the industrialized but declining Ruhr region, and later a resident of Cologne, Richter’s first big break was a role in the 1981 German World War II submarine epic “Das Boot,” which immediately introduced him to a wide audience in Germany and even beyond.
He played Petty Officer Frenssen, a young and rather crude sailor who loved to trade dirty jokes with his best friend Petty Officer Pilgrim.
Richter’s later roles often played on his roots in the Ruhr; the films might not have traveled like “Das Boot” but were successful at home.
He starred as a stressed out coal miner from Gelsenkirchen in the film “Superstau” (Super Traffic Jam) trying to drive to his Corsica holiday in his Audi 100 with his wife and child.
In particular he achieved cult status for his comedic starring role in the 1999 film “Bang Boom Bang — Ein Todsicheres Ding” (roughly: Bang Boom Bang — A Dead Certain Deal) as a choleric, feared but also fundamentally likeable mobster from the Ruhr called Karlheinz “Kalle” Grabowski.
Richter also made headlines prior to the film’s premiere when he was himself arrested and later given a jail sentence for cocaine offenses.
Richter released one album as a vocalist, called One Heart, parallel to his acting career.
A Cologne resident in later life and a passionate football fan, with VfL Bochum his club, Richter became known in North Rhine-Westphalia for his efforts to help the club in the south of the city, SC Fortuna Köln, avoid bankruptcy in 2003.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Mf04Skip next section Police detain two suspected of belonging to Eritrean terror group09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Police detain two suspected of belonging to Eritrean terror group
Police on Tuesday detained two men — an Eritrean and a German — accused of using violence at two German community festivals.
The German Federal Prosecutors Office in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe accuse the two of membership in Brigade N’Hamedu Germany, a domestic terror organization bent on overthrowing Eritrea’s authoritarian government.
The men will now appear before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, which will rule on terms of their pre-trial detention.
Brigade N’Hamedu Germany is accused of orchestrating violence at three community events organized by perceived supporters of Eritrea’s government — twice in the city of Giessen in 2022 and 2023, as well as in Stuttgart in 2023.
“In doing so, the members of the organization regarded violence against German state institutions and representatives of state authority — for example, police officers deployed to protect the events — as a legitimate means,” prosecutors said.
Both men are accused of helping establish the group’s presence in Germany, with one said to have actively participated in mass brawls in Giessen, where attendees and police were violently attacked.
Police say the terrorists threw objects at and beat the heads of those they attacked, with the intent of potentially killing them.
Several people were injured during the respective attacks, some seriously. In all, 39 police officers were injured and some 230 arrests made.
Similar incidents have occurred in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Large-scale raids were carried out across Germany and Denmark in connection with the group in 2025, though no arrests were made at the time.
Eritrea, a country of 4 million, became independent of Ethiopia in 1993 and has been ruled with an iron fist by President Isaias Afwerki ever since.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other rights groups say Afwerki’s government suppresses the population through forced labor, compulsory military service and restrictions on freedom of expression, religion and the press.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MezPSkip next section AfD rejects claim it might give NATO plans to Russia, says CDU playing politics09/15/2026September 15, 2026
AfD rejects claim it might give NATO plans to Russia, says CDU playing politics
A dispute over Germany’s classified defense plan intensified Tuesday as the far-right AfD rejected calls to strip Saxony-Anhalt of the document.
Germany’s operational plan, or OPLAN, contains key defense measures and planned NATO movements across Europe in the event of a Russia attack, which German and NATO military assessments indicate Moscow could be ready to carry out by 2029.
In such a scenario, Germany would become NATO’s central logistics hub and a prime target for attacks and sabotage.
All 16 German states currently have copies of the 1,000-page document.
Following the AfD’s landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt, Bastian Ernst, a CDU politician and president of Germany’s Reservist Association, demanded it be withdrawn from the state before the AfD could potentially form a government.
The AfD has faced scrutiny for years over its Russia-friendly stance. It’s members routinely call for ending German military aid to Ukraine and a negotiated settlement to the war, claiming Moscow simply wants peace and is acting in self-defense.
“If they [AfD] were to form a government in Saxony-Anhalt, the OPLAN would almost certainly be leaked to Russia,” Ernst said. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has privately backed the move, German media reported.
The AfD’s response was immediate and combative.
Jan Nolte, the party’s defense policy spokesperson in the Bundestag, told DW that withdrawing the document would create a security breach. “Whoever removes this state from defense planning tears a hole in national defense and endangers citizens across all of Germany,” Nolte said.
He argued that Saxony-Anhalt sits at the crossroads of NATO’s eastern logistics network, making it indispensable to wartime coordination.
Nolte dismissed Ernst’s approach as party politics at the expense of security, asking what would happen if the AfD were to win majorities in more states.
The AfD, Nolte declared, remains, “unwaveringly committed to the defense of the country and its alliances.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5MeoSSkip next section Munich to host 2031 World Athletics Championships09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Munich to host 2031 World Athletics Championships
Emilio Reynoso with AFP, AP
The World Athletics Championships will be held in Munich in 2031, the third time Germany will host the event.
World Athletics, the governing body of the championship, made the announcement in Budapest on Tuesday.
It also revealed that the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, would host the event in 2029, a first for Africa.
“They offer very different, but equally exciting, opportunities for our sport, and I am glad that we can now start working with both cities to host two world-class championships,” said Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics.
“The Olympic Park in Munich is one of the iconic venues of world sport. We know that Munich can host major championships, that Germany has an audience for athletics, and we believe that Munich 2031 has all the ingredients to be a spectacular World Athletics Championships,” he added.
Germany hosted the World Championships in 1993 in Stuttgart and in 2009 in Berlin. The Olympic Stadium in Munich also hosted the European Athletics Championships in 2022.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdKkSkip next section Wadephul to seek German seat on UN Human Rights Council09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Wadephul to seek German seat on UN Human Rights Council
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is set to arrive in Geneva on Tuesday to campaign for a seat for Germany on the UN Human Rights Council.
He was expected to meet with Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
A meeting with the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, is also planned, according to the German minister’s office.
Germany and Ireland are competing for the two seats allocated to Western European countries. According to the Foreign Ministry, Germany has been an elected voting member of the council five times since its founding 20 years ago.
It last served on the body from 2023 to 2025.
The Human Rights Council will be elected in October at the UN headquarters in New York.
Germany’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in early June was unsuccessful, with Portugal and Austria elected instead. This sparked a debate about the value of Germany’s contributions to the UN.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdP4Skip next section Wadephul and Söder back Merz09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Wadephul and Söder back Merz
Embattled German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has received public backing from two senior conservative allies, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) and Bavarian state premier Markus Söder (CSU), ahead of a key party meeting in Berlin on Sunday.
“We have been elected for a full parliament, we will fulfill our responsibility in this parliament, and we will do it under this chancellor,” insisted Wadephul after taking part in a meeting of the Bavarian state parliament in Munich on Tuesday.
“That’s what he was elected for,” he said of Merz. “I voted for him. We voted for him. I enjoy working in his cabinet and I am determined to continue doing so.”
Bavarian state premier Söder, who chaired the cabinet meeting, also called for “togetherness” and “strength” in support of the chancellor, saying:
“It would be a real problem if, amid all the complications of these times in which we are living, with hybrid attacks on our democracy, Germany were to falter.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdsDSkip next section CDU calls crisis meeting as pressure mounts on Merz09/15/2026September 15, 2026
CDU calls crisis meeting as pressure mounts on Merz
The leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz‘s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is to hold a crisis meeting in Berlin on election night amid mounting speculation over the chancellor’s political future.
The CDU’s executive committee will meet under Merz’s leadership on Sunday evening to assess the party’s latest state election results and discuss its next steps, a party spokeswoman said. A meeting of the wider federal party leadership is due to follow on Monday.
Merz is expected to seek a clear show of support from senior CDU figures as criticism of his leadership intensifies.
Could Merz seek a confidence vote?
One option reportedly under consideration is for Merz to seek an explicit declaration of confidence from the party leadership.
There has been speculation that influential CDU politicians at state level could seek to oust the increasingly unpopular chancellor. A declaration of support could help Merz head off such a challenge.
The CDU executive committee is the party’s most senior inner leadership body and includes all CDU state premiers.
Political scientist Oliver Lembcke of Ruhr University Bochum said preparations at CDU headquarters suggested Merz himself now regarded an early end to his chancellorship as a realistic possibility.
“That is why Merz is trying to rally the influential state premiers behind him in particular,” Lembcke told the AFP news agency.
“If they do not demonstratively express their confidence in him after the elections, his situation will become very difficult.”
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https://p.dw.com/p/5MdqCSkip next section Merz determined to continue despite plummeting ratings09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Merz determined to continue despite plummeting ratings
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is is determined to serve out his full four-year term despite sinking ratings and growing pressure following his Christian Democratic Union (CDU)‘s recent electoral defeat in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
“I was elected for four years and I want to use this time to solve problems,” he said on Tuesday, insisting: “We have to prove that this can be achieved with this coalition.”
Merz said he intended to pursue further reforms alongside the CDU’s coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD). “This is not possible with other majorities in parliament,” he said.
Nationally, the conservative CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are polling at between 18% and 20%, far below their result in last year’s federal election and significantly behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
This week, a new INSA poll found that a majority of CDU supporters and 78% of the wider public no longer believe Merz is the right person for the job.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdjNSkip next section Merz: Government will act to combat fuel prices09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Merz: Government will act to combat fuel prices
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that his government would take action to protect consumers from rising fuel prices (seen entry below).
“We will respond to profiteering,” he told a meeting of business leaders in Berlin, without specifying precisely how.
“I am of the opinion that we must act,” he said, adding that discussions between the federal government and state governments had already taken place. “You can rest assured that we will be making suggestions soon.”
Gas prices in Germany continue to rise with standard unleaded Super E10 currently costing an average of €2.286 per liter and diesel at €2.412 per liter – only a few cents below the all-time record.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdcxSkip next section German coalition split on how to tackle soaring fuel prices09/15/2026September 15, 2026
German coalition split on how to tackle soaring fuel prices
Kieran Burke Editor
Divisions are opening up in Germany’s government over current surging fuel prices, with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) accusing conservative Economy Minister Katherina Reiche of inaction.
“We’ve had enough,” the SPD’s general secretary, Tim Klüssendorf, told the news portal t-online.
“Millions of people in our country are still dealing with completely excessive fuel prices, and the responsible minister, Katherina Reiche, is watching by while oil giants make record profits at the expense of the public,” Klüssendorf said. “We urgently need measures against extortionate fuel prices.”
What are the SPD’s proposals?
The SPD is calling for three measures to bring down the high fuel prices.
They include:
- a price cap based on those in place in Belgium and Luxembourg
- a tax on excessive profits made by oil companies
- transparency on how prices emerge
What have the conservatives suggested?
However, Reiche has rejected the idea of a price cap, instead proposing direct payments to those affected by the fuel prices.
“This would be one way of providing rapid relief, but it would need to be targeted specifically at those income groups that pay little or no tax,” she said on Monday.
Economic expert warns on fuel tax cuts
Earlier this year, the conservative-led government put in place a two-month fuel tax cut to relieve motorists.
But the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) on Tuesday cautioned against repeating such a measure.
IFW economist Klaus-Jürgen Gern told Deutschlandfunk radio that a general fuel tax cut was counterproductive.
“It supports people who don’t need it. And in the end, there is a shortfall in public funds, where there are actually more important things to finance. There is then a shortfall for investment, and a shortfall for other important social spending,” he said.
Fuel prices soaring
The row comes as gasoline reached a new high of €2.273 ($2.62) per liter ($9.92 per US gallon) on Sunday according to average national figures from the ADAC automobile club.
The ADAC said diesel reached €2.40 per liter on Sunday, just some 4 cents under the record price hit in April as a consequence of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which is the main factor driving the rise in fuel prices throughout the world.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MdOYSkip next section Far-right AfD remains strongest party in new survey09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Far-right AfD remains strongest party in new survey
Emilio Reynoso
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) remains the party with the most nationwide support, according to a YouGov poll published on Tuesday.
The survey comes after the nationalist party achieved a resounding victory in elections in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt earlier in September.
In the YouGov poll, which was conducted between Friday and Monday, the AfD scored 29%, gaining one percentage point compared with August.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), fell to 18%, a record low.
Support for the Greens rose to 16%, while the Social Democrats, the junior partner in the governing coalition with the CDU/CSU, gained one point, reaching 13%.
The Left party were at 10%, losing two points. The Free Democrats (FDP) remained at 5%, and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) rose to 4%.
The majority of those surveyed by YouGov (59%) said they consider the AfD to be a far-right party, while 30% disagree. This figure has changed very little since May 2025.
However, attitudes towards the so-called “firewall,” a policy under which traditional parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD, have changed considerably. The survey found that 51% of respondents believe that cooperation with the AfD should not be categorically ruled out — up from 44% in August.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5MdLBSkip next section Berlin woman charged with supporting ‘IS’09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Berlin woman charged with supporting ‘IS’
Berlin state prosecutors have charged a 35-year-old German woman with supporting the “Islamic State” (IS) terror organization.
The woman is accused of having traveled via Istanbul in Turkey to Syria in December 2014 to join the group there.
Prosecutors allege that she followed her husband, who wanted to fight for the extremist group.
They said she had lived with him in the Syrian town of Manbij, where she supported his IS activities.
After leaving the town in February 2015 and separating from her husband, she is said to have lived in IS-run women’s accommodation.
Support for ‘IS’ ideology
During this time, she allegedly convinced a female friend in Berlin to come to Syria to support IS. The friend is said to have later been killed fighting with the group.
The woman is also said to have declared her willingness to take part in suicide attacks.
After being captured by Kurdish armed forces in 2019 and spending some time in a camp near the border to Iraq, she allegedly escaped to Turkey with the aid of her ex-husband, living there under a false name until April 2026.
The woman was arrested at Berlin Airport in April this year upon her return to Germany.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Md86Skip next section Defense Minister Pistorius heads to US for talks09/15/2026September 15, 2026
Defense Minister Pistorius heads to US for talks
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is on his way to the United States for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon.
Before setting off on his trip, Pistorius mentioned Germany’s order of US-made F-35 stealth jets, which are set to replace the German Air Force’s aging Tornado combat planes.
On Friday, he will visit the manufacturer of the planes, Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, where the first of the aircraft will be officially handed over.
Pistorius said another focus of the talks could be plans to make guided missiles for the Patriot air defense system in Germany.
The German government also intends to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles in the US, having reached a preliminary agreement on a deal on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara in July.
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