Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- French and German ministers met for talks focused on security, defense and economic policy
- The two countries’ leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, want to coordinate more closely on Ukraine, artificial intelligence, industry and energy
- Merz also said Germany would take part in a nuclear drill for the first time with France later this year
- It comes ahead of 2027 French presidential elections, which could shake up France-German defense ties
- A woman has been found guilty of supporting Germany’s far-right NSU terrorist group
- A court in the city of Dresden handed a two-year suspended sentence to Susann E. for helping convicted group member Beate Zschäpe while she was living underground
Here is a roundup of the latest news headlines from Germany on July 17:
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Skip next section Merz promises to ‘extend a hand’ to next French president07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Merz promises to ‘extend a hand’ to next French president
Germany’s Merz, following the German-French consultations near Cologne, promised to “extend a hand” to the next French president who succeeds Macron.
France is expected to hold the first round presidential elections in April 2027, with Macron ineligible to run due to term limits.
“We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that this cooperation with our French neighbors remains as close, as deep and as trusting as possible, regardless of how voters in France decide,” Merz said.
Recent opinion polls show far-right politician Marine Le Pen as the most popular candidate.
Le Pen was convicted of embezzling EU funds in 2025 and was banned from holding public office. However, an appeals court earlier this month lifted that ban, despite upholding the conviction, with Le Pen vowing to run for the presidency while wearing an ankle tag.
“Beware of the polls,” Macron said during a press briefing alongside Merz. “Trust the French people, don’t always predict the worst for them.”
Macron defeated Le Pen in the 2017 and 2022 French presidential elections.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HKKzSkip next section Germany to participate in French nuclear exercise for first time07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Germany to participate in French nuclear exercise for first time
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to strengthen German-French nuclear cooperation during their meeting at Nörvenich Air Base near Cologne.
Merz and Macron presided over a session of the German-French Defense and Security Council at the air base, where it was agreed that Germany would participate in a French nuclear exercise for the first time later in the year.
“We are strengthening European deterrence,” Merz said in a post about the meeting on X.
France is the only member of the European Union which possesses its own nuclear weapons on its own soil. Germany, meanwhile, hosts US nuclear weapons on its territory.
In addition to Germany, eight other nations have agreed to strengthen nuclear cooperation with France: the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
During a later meeting at nearby Brühl Castle, Merz and Macron also agreed to tighten cooperation on missile defense and long-range strike systems.
Merz said Germany and France would continue to develop a combat cloud system which links aircraft, drones and sensors. The “combat cloud” is the last remaining pillar of a joint fighter jet program between Germany and France which fell through earlier this year.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HJw6Skip next section Germany and France hold ministerial talks near Cologne07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Germany and France hold ministerial talks near Cologne
France and Germany have begun ministerial talks aimed at deepening cooperation on defence, artificial intelligence, critical raw materials and Europe’s future budget.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and 10 ministers from each country opened consultations at Augustusburg Palace in Brühl on Friday.
The agenda includes the European IRIS-2 satellite network, joint artificial intelligence projects and efforts to secure supplies of critical raw materials.
Both governments also want to prepare negotiations on the European Union’s next long-term budget, with the aim of reaching an agreement before Europe’s major election year in 2027.
Merz welcomed Macron with military honors outside Augustusburg Palace. Shortly after the ceremony, a French Rafale fighter jet and a German Eurofighter flew over the venue.
The palace, just south of Cologne, has particular significance for Franco-German relations. French President Charles de Gaulle proposed a friendship treaty to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer there in 1962.
That initiative led to the Elysee Treaty, which remains the foundation of cooperation between the two countries.
According to the famous local story, Napoleon was so impressed by Augustusburg that he regretted that it “did not have wheels,” because otherwise he would have taken it back to France.
Before travelling to Brühl, Merz and Macron and their defense ministers met at Nörvenich Air Base as part of the Franco-German Defence and Security Council.
The discussions included plans to strengthen nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HJavSkip next section Moldovan man held over suspected drone spying in Munich07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Moldovan man held over suspected drone spying in Munich
A Moldovan man has been arrested in Munich on suspicion of flying a drone over the premises of a German defence company and collecting security-sensitive footage.
The 37-year-old flew the drone over the site on Wednesday evening, Munich prosecutors have said.
Authorities suspect he took photographs and videos relating to national defence with the intention of passing them to a foreign organization or a banned group.
Police detained the man near the suspected scene shortly afterward following information from members of the public.
A judge at Munich District Court issued an arrest warrant on suspicion of espionage.
The suspect has been remanded in custody while the investigation continues.
Drone sightings in Germany spiked in 2025, with over 1,000 suspicious drone flights recorded last year. Several airports across Europe were also disrupted by drone flights.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in October that the German government believes Russia is behind many of the drone sightings over German territory.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5HJKWSkip next section German man jailed for life for murdering wife07/17/2026July 17, 2026
German man jailed for life for murdering wife
A German court has sentenced a man to life in prison for murdering his wife after she told him she wanted a divorce.
The regional court in the Bavarian city of Landshut ruled that the man had acted out of base motives, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The court largely followed the prosecution’s request in its verdict on Thursday but did not find the defendant’s guilt to be of particular severity.
The man was remanded in custody in December 2025 after lying in wait for his wife in Wallersdorf and killing her.
Prosecutors said he had severely abused his wife for years. The relationship was marked by his intense possessiveness and controlling behavior toward her.
The woman had planned to leave him and obtained a restraining order under Germany’s Protection Against Violence Act.
However, the man was subsequently permitted to return to the family home at agreed times to visit their children.
His wife later made it clear that she wanted a divorce. Prosecutors said he then made the deliberate decision to kill her.
The defense had sought a conviction for manslaughter rather than murder.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HIp4Skip next section Whale sighting recalls failed rescue of Timmy07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Whale sighting recalls failed rescue of Timmy
A large whale has been spotted off Germany’s Baltic coast, reviving memories of the humpback whale “Timmy,” whose high-profile rescue attempt ended with the animal’s death earlier this year.
The German Oceanographic Museum received two reports of sightings off Heiligenhafen in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday, a spokesperson told the DPA news agency.
It is thought that the animal could be a humpback whale recently seen several times off Denmark’s Baltic coast.
“The image and video material available to us is unfortunately of such poor quality that we cannot say with certainty whether this is the humpback whale that has been off Denmark in recent weeks,” she said. “However, its size and general appearance suggest that it could be.”
Danish environmental authorities say the whale’s appearance and behavior suggest that it could be ill. They urged people to keep their distance.
The sighting comes only months after the case of Timmy drew widespread attention in Germany. The humpback whale repeatedly became stranded after swimming into German waters in the spring.
A private initiative eventually placed the marine mammal on a transport barge, carried the animal to the North Sea and released it there in an elaborate operation.
Experts strongly criticized the intervention, describing it as animal cruelty.
Timmy did not survive. The whale was found dead off the Danish Baltic island of Anholt in mid-May.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5HIfNSkip next section Far-right terror group supporter Susann E. receives suspended sentence07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Far-right terror group supporter Susann E. receives suspended sentence
A Dresden court has handed far-right National Socialist Underground (NSU) supporter Susann E. a two-year suspended prison sentence.
The Higher Regional Court delivered the verdict, convicting her of supporting a terrorist organization in three cases, among other offences.
Federal prosecutors said E. repeatedly allowed Beate Zschäpe, who was convicted as a member of the NSU, to use her identity while living underground in Zwickau, Saxony.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HHLFSkip next section Criticism mounts over top conservative lawmaker’s use of US surrogate07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Criticism mounts over top conservative lawmaker’s use of US surrogate
Criticism of Jens Spahn has intensified after the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) parliamentary leader and his husband became parents through a surrogate in the United States.
Spahn and his husband, Daniel Funke, announced on Wednesday that they had become parents. Their baby was born to a surrogate in the US.
The news triggered a contentious debate because surrogacy is not permitted in Germany and Spahn’s party firmly opposes its legalization.
Green lawmaker Janosch Dahmen accused the former health minister of applying double standards.
“Anyone who politically advocates rules should explain clearly why they apparently should not apply to them personally,” the Greens’ health policy spokesperson told the RND media group.
Critical voices have also emerged within Spahn’s conservative bloc. The CDU decided at its party conference in February to retain Germany’s ban on surrogacy.
“Surrogacy is rightly prohibited in Germany. It is not good when politicians use power and money to circumvent that,” Hubert Hüppe, head of the CDU-affiliated Seniors’ Union, told “Focus” magazine.
People close to Spahn said the legal and financial protections available to the surrogate had influenced the couple’s decision to pursue the arrangement in the US. They also stressed that Spahn was not seeking to change German law.
Spahn served as health minister from 2018 to 2021, when his ministry was responsible for the Embryo Protection Act, which contains provisions underpinning the ban on surrogacy.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HHBISkip next section Prosecutors seek four years for alleged NSU supporter07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Prosecutors seek four years for alleged NSU supporter
Federal prosecutors have called for a four-year prison sentence for an alleged supporter of Germany’s far-right National Socialist Underground terrorist group.
Prosecutors asked the Higher Regional Court in Dresden on Friday to convict the 45-year-old defendant, Susann E., of supporting a terrorist organization and aiding and abetting aggravated extortion, a court spokesperson said.
According to the prosecution, E. repeatedly allowed convicted NSU member Beate Zschäpe to use her identity while Zschäpe was living underground in Zwickau, in the eastern state of Saxony.
She allegedly gave Zschäpe her health insurance card for medical appointments and helped rent a motorhome used by the NSU during its final robbery.
The defendant is married to André E., who was convicted of supporting the NSU during the main trial in Munich.
The court is expected to announce its verdict on Friday morning.
The NSU committed 10 murders, two bomb attacks and more than a dozen robberies between 1998 and 2011.
Members Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos killed themselves in November 2011 as police closed in on them following a bank robbery in Eisenach.
Zschäpe subsequently sent out letters claiming responsibility for the group’s crimes, exposing the existence of the NSU.
A Munich court sentenced her to life imprisonment in 2018 and found that her guilt was of particular severity, making an early release less likely.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HGzgSkip next section Germany and France seek fresh momentum at ministerial talks07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Germany and France seek fresh momentum at ministerial talks
France and Germany are preparing to deepen cooperation on European security, defence and economic policy as ministers from both countries meet in western Germany.
French President Emmanuel Macron said late Thursday that Paris and Berlin wanted to accelerate Europe’s strategic renewal and work more closely together on key international issues.
“I believe I can say that recent months have also brought a genuine Franco-German rapprochement on the European agenda,” Macron ahead of the government gathering in the Rhineland.
The talks also come after tensions over joint defense projects, especially the troubled Future Combat Air System fighter jet program.
The project was once seen as a flagship example of European defense cooperation, but became bogged down in disputes between French and German industry over control, technology and the division of work.
Merz welcomed Macron to Bensberg Palace near the western city of Cologne on Thursday evening for talks ahead of Friday’s meetings.
The two leaders first held discussions with a wider group before meeting privately over dinner.
Friday’s program begins with a meeting of the Franco-German Defence and Security Council at the Nörvenich Air Base.
The wider cabinet talks take place later in at Schloss Augustusburg, a palace in the town of Brühl, just south of Cologne.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5HGypSkip next section Welcome to our coverage07/17/2026July 17, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
Richard Connor | Karl Sexton Editor
Guten Tag from the DW newsroom in Bonn on the banks of the Rhine River, which is looking decidedly thirsty after a summer of much sunshine and very little rain.
Not far away, in the small town of Brühl, France and Germany are trying to put fresh energy into their relationship.
Individual government ministers are holding focused talks with their counterparts ahead of a wide meeting of the two countries’ cabinets.
Defense and security talks are also taking place at the nearby Nörvenich Air Base.
For this and more of the stories that Germany is talking about, stick with us here.
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