Germany news: Climate activists target tank factory

After Romania reported a Russian drone entering its airspace from Ukraine and crashing into an apartment building, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Moscow of being "reckless."

"Germany stands with our NATO Allies," he wrote in an online post. "The incident once again underscores the need for strong NATO posture on the Eastern flank."

The German leader also echoed comments made by NATO chief Mark Rutte, saying the alliance was "ready to defend every inch of Allied territory."

Separately, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul pledged to "rapidly and decisively expand the European defense capabilities inside NATO."

"We will neither allow ourselves to be intimidated nor divided," he said.

For more on the drone strike inside Romania and the response from international leaders, click here.

A 47-year-old man died after falling into a recycling machine in the town of Freiberg in the eastern German state of Saxony on Thursday evening, local police confirmed on Friday.

According to initial investigations, the man had been recycling waste with a 29-year-old colleague when the machine suffered a technical malfunction.

The man reportedly attempted to fix the problem and, in doing so, ended up inside the machine, suffering fatal injuries and dying at the scene of the accident.

Police in the nearby city of Chemnitz are continuing to investigate what exactly happened.

The rise in consumer prices in Germany slowed notably in May, according to a preliminary estimate published by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Friday, which put the decline down to the introduction of a government fuel discount.

The cost of goods and services rose by 2.6% compared to the same month last year, down from 2.9% in April, when rising energy prices in the wake of the conflict in Iran sent prices soaring.

Since then, however, the pace of energy price growth has slowed: energy prices rose by 6.6% in May, down from 10.1% in April.

According to the statistical office, food prices rose by a below-average rate of just 0.4%.

"Inflation is not yet spiraling out of control," commented Ulrich Kater, chief economist at Dekabank, predicting: "If crude oil prices remain at their current level — pending a negotiated solution regarding the Strait of Hormuz — then Germany's inflation rate will stay roughly at its present level over the coming months."

"If a timely end to the war involving Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz are achieved in the coming weeks, crude oil prices — and with them, inflation — are likely to fall significantly, both in Germany and across the Eurozone as a whole," added Silke Tober of the IMK institute, estimating: "At present, this scenario is entirely realistic."

Germany's men's national football team had a surprise visit from the country's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) at their training base in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, the German Football Federation (DFB) confirmed on Friday.

Ten players from Julian Nagelsmann's World Cup squad were selected to provide urine samples on Thursday evening, with four of them also having blood taken.

Unannounced doping tests are standard procedure ahead of major tournaments, with world football's governing body FIFA also requesting proof that players and staff have been vaccinated against measles before traveling to this summer's event in Mexico, Canada and the United States.

The German team are training in Herzogenaurach before facing Finland in a pre-tournament friendly game in Mainz on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the team will fly from Frankfurt to Chicago where a final warm-up game against World Cup co-hosts USA will take place on June 6.

The team will head to their World Cup base in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Monday 8.

The tournament finally gets underway on June 11 with Mexico vs. South Africa.

Germany are in Group E alongside Curacao (June 14 in Houston), Ivory Coast (June 20 in Toronto, Canada) and Ecuador (June 25 in New York).

German activists have blockaded a tank factory and pipeline production site in the western German town of Mülheim.

The action comes a day after Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived at a climate camp in the nearby city of Hamm on Thursday.

Local police confirmed that 120 people had taken part in an unregistered gathering outside a factory belonging to Dutch tank and armaments manufacturer KNDS, blocking the entance.

A spokeswoman for German climate activist group "Ende Gelände" (a German idiom meaning "Game over!" or "That's it!") said 200 people had participated and had prevented a shift change at the factory.

The protest was against the use of CO2-intensive steel in the production of armored vehicles, which the activists would prefer to be seen used to produce wind turbines or railway lines.

"Up until a few years ago, windmill rotors used to roll off the production line here," said the spokeswoman. "Now, the focus is fully back on tank steel, using unfathomable amounts of fossil fuels."

Afterwards, the protesters moved to the nearby Europipe factory, which produces piping for gas and oil pipelines, blocking railway tracks used to deliver materials to the site but not preventing employees from entering or leaving the building.

Whether Thunberg was involved in Mülheim or whether she remained at the climate camp in Hamm was not immediately clear.

On Friday morning, around 300 climate activists marched from the camp into the center of Hamm, escorted by police.

Also on Friday, police in the nearby city of Gelsenkirchen said that around 150 people had broken into the grounds of a power plant. "This is apparently connected to the action day in the context of the climate camp in Hamm," they said, adding that officers had been deployed to protect both the protesters and "objects of critical infrastructure."

On Saturday, an alliance of activist groups including Fridays for Future (FFF) and Greenpeace are staging a demonstration but Thunberg, believed to be attending in a private capacity, is not expected to speak.

"With initiatives, camps and demonstration, we are protesting in a colorful and diverse manner against the misguided energy policy of [German Energy Minister] Katherina Reiche," said a FFF spokesperson.

Conservative allies of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have strongly dismissed rumors that he could be ousted and replaced given his poor poll ratings.

"This rumor being spread by the media in Berlin is nonsense," said Sven Schulze, the state premier for the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt and a senior member of Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Schulze acknowledged that the German government, a coalition between the CDU and their junior partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), was facing criticism over issues such as pension reform and the blocking of a €1,000 ($1,163) tax-free relief bonus for citizens, and said he was one of those who regularly push back against Merz on certain topics.

"But that doesn't mean that anyone is questioning the very identity of the Chancellor or that anyone in Germany intends to oust him," he told public broadcaster MDR, insisting that the idea had "never been discussed … even in internal circles."

The state premier for the southwestern state of Hesse, Boris Rhein (CDU), also backed Merz, telling Sat1 radio: "We don't need less Merz in Germany; we need more."

Rhein said he also considered the rumors of the Chancellor's potential removal to be "complete nonsense" and "totally unrealistic," calling them "random fantasies which have emerged from some bubble somewhere."

On Thursday evening, Head of the Chancellery Thorsten Frei (CDU) said the debate was "going nowhere" and should be ended. He also admitted that the government was going through a "period of high tension" but insisted that "no-one is losing their nerve."

Even the opposition has criticized suggestions that Merz should be replaced, albeit for slightly different reasons.

"I find it irresponsible that the government is in such a disastrous state after just one year in office that there is speculation about a change of chancellor in their own ranks," Green Party chairman Felix Banaszak told broadcaster RTL. "They were elected, they have a stable majority and we have a tradition in Germany that governments should work sensibly for four years."

Nevertheless, he said that the CDU and parts of the SPD had "learnt nothing" from the failures of Germany's previous government, a three-way coalition between the SPD, the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP). "They're repeating all the mistakes and adding more on top."

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is confident that his trip to Canada to advertise German submarines has been a success and that a deal is within reach.

"I was hopeful when I traveled here, I was hopeful during my stay, and I am also departing with hope," he said in Montreal on Thursday.

Germany is hoping to convince Canada to purchase up to 12 new submarines from German manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), but faces competition from South Korea.

"Together, we can build the biggest and most modern conventional submarine fleet in the world," said Pistorius, referring to the fact that NATO partners Germany and Norway have already ordered TKMS vessels.

Such "interoperability" among NATO allies is an "immense military advantage," he said, but he faced criticism for having spent only three days in Canada in contrast to the weeks-long promotional tour conducted by the South Korean competition.

"We're Europeans, perhaps we operate differently to the Asians when it comes to these sorts of things," said Pistorius. "But we're in a competition and may the best [offer] win."

Canada is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.

"It's the sovereign decision of the Canadian government," said Pistorius. "We're anticipating it and we will accept it."

Guten Morgen! Welcome to DW's coverage of what Germany is talking about on Friday, May 29, 2026.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is rounding off a visit to Canada, where he has been promoting German submarines.

Back in Germany, allies of Chancellor Friedrich Merz have dismissed reports of his potential replacement as "nonsense."

And, ahead of their departure to the FIFA World Cup, Germany's national men's football team received an unannounced visit from the National Anti-Doping Agency.