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Europe Today: AfD's win piles pressure on Merz as Ukraine scrambles to fund the war
Chancellor Merz faces growing pressure a day after the AfD's historic win in Saxony-Anhalt. Ukraine, meanwhile, faces a mounting economic challenge to keep funding its war against Russia, and in Serbia, thousands attended Ratko Mladić's pompous funeral yesterday
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/09/08/europe-today-afds-win-piles-pressure-on-merz-as-ukraine-scrambles-to-fund-the-war
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Chancellor Merz faces growing pressure a day after the AfD's historic win in Saxony-Anhalt. Ukraine, meanwhile, faces a mounting economic challenge to keep funding its war against Russia, and in Serbia, thousands attended Ratko Mladić's pompous funeral yesterday
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/09/08/europe-today-afds-win-piles-pressure-on-merz-as-ukraine-scrambles-to-fund-the-war
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:15Good morning, it's Tuesday the 8th of September, you're watching Euronews and this is Europe
00:22Today.
00:23Coming up.
00:23The stunning triumph of the AfD in a regional election has rattled the political landscape in Germany.
00:30The landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt led the AfD to claim power for the first time in Germany's post-war
00:38history.
00:38Meanwhile, Chancellor Merz's Christian Democrats are struggling to find a way forward.
00:44We'll have live updates from Berlin.
00:46The war in Ukraine is entering another critical phase.
00:50On the battlefield, Russian attacks continue.
00:52Diplomatically, there is renewed movement with U.S. envoys shuttling between Moscow and Kiev.
00:59And then there is the economic battle.
01:01Ukraine needs to keep its economy functioning and prepare for another difficult winter.
01:07We speak to a former Ukrainian economy minister.
01:09And thousands of mourners gathered in Belgrade for the funeral of Ratko Mladic, the Serbian general convicted of orchestrating the
01:18worst massacre in Europe since World War II.
01:22Armed forces stood guard at his casket.
01:24A display of medals lay in front.
01:27His hero's return home did not sit well with Serbia's partners in Brussels.
01:33Welcome to the program.
01:35I'm Stefan Grobe.
01:37Following the election in Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right AfD party has reaffirmed its intention to form the next regional
01:44government, provided there is a stable majority.
01:48Meanwhile, the ruling parties in the federal government are struggling to find answers.
01:52The chancellor wants to improve communication, while the Social Democrats are suddenly unsure about the planned social reforms.
02:01To get a sense of what's going on, let's bring in our correspondent, Laura Fleischmann, who joins us from Berlin.
02:07Good morning, Laura.
02:09So, the AfD scored a historic win in Saxony-Anhalt.
02:13How significant is this result?
02:15And what does it mean for the party's national ambitions?
02:21Good morning to you too, Stefan.
02:23And, well, the AfD's leader, Alice Weidel, called this a dream result, and she frames it as a mandate that
02:28goes beyond the state level.
02:30She now wants to push toward 40 percent for the AfD nationally, and also stated that the CDU, which is
02:36currently governing in Germany, will never again win a national election.
02:40Right now, the AfD stands at around 27 percent nationally, with the CDU in second place at around 21 percent.
02:47And Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's top candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, even called for a chancellor, Alice Weidel, because he said
02:54that he needs her in order to actually fulfill what the AfD promised its voters.
02:59So, their goal seems pretty clear.
03:01They want to govern on a national level as soon as possible.
03:05And for the Christian Democrats, this was one of the worst results ever.
03:10How did Friedrich Merz respond, and are there already cracks in his coalition with the Social Democrats?
03:19Merz called this one of the largest defeats for the CDU in decades, but let's listen to what he actually
03:24had to say himself about it.
03:33When almost 60 percent of voters in a federal state, a very high turnout, choose political parties that fundamentally question
03:41the democratic institutions and rhetoric of our country,
03:43that's a result we can't simply ignore.
03:46We won't.
03:47We've discussed this at length.
03:48It affects us, and me personally as well.
04:03Merz promised that his government will ensure that the basic law is being upheld in Saxony-Anhalt.
04:08On that note, it is important to know that the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has been classified as a far
04:14-right extremist organization by state authorities.
04:17Merz, of course, also spoke about mistakes.
04:19He pointed out a lack of emotion in the CDU's communication and also in his government's communication, and he promised
04:26to change that in the future.
04:28One thing he wants to stick to, though, is his current reform course.
04:31He called it necessary, even though it is particularly unpopular among voters and is also one of the key factors
04:37contributing to his unpopularity.
04:39The Social Democrats, his coalition partner, however, wants to change course.
04:44They want to correct their policy, especially looking at the pension reform and the care system reform.
04:50So there seems to be quite a coalition storm brewing right now.
04:54All right, Laura Fleischmann in Berlin.
04:56Thank you very much for these updates.
04:59Friedrich Merz promised to weaken the AfD.
05:02Instead, it is stronger than ever.
05:04Now the chancellor faces an agonizing dilemma.
05:07Stick to the political firewall and risk watching the AfD grow even further or change course and risk tearing his
05:15own party and perhaps his government apart.
05:18Earlier this morning, I spoke to Bela Ander, from 2002 to 2005 chief spokesman for the federal government, Ander Gerhard
05:25Schröder, and now head of the PR company Ander Business Communication.
05:29I asked him about the options Friedrich Merz has now and whether he can regain control of the political narrative.
05:38Well, it's going to be very hard for Chancellor Friedrich Merz to regain control because there's a substantial amount of
05:47people within his party who are now very critical of him and his politics.
05:52However, I'd say that 90 percent at least of the people in this party are in favor of keeping a
06:01strong distance towards the AfD that has just gained so much, about 45 percent of the voters' share in the
06:09state election of Sachsen-Anhalt.
06:12But so what can he do?
06:14He can continue on his reform path, which he's set out to do, and try to keep the coalition together,
06:22which is increasingly difficult because the Social Democrats are on their own path of avoiding reforms.
06:30And what is the biggest mistake Merz has made?
06:37Communication is the key, something I always say, and he's done very poorly at communication.
06:43He's acknowledged that himself yesterday when he stood up, when he came after talking to his colleagues at the CDU,
06:54at the CDU presidium, he came out to journalists and said, well, I got to be better than this.
06:58It's always something journalists hear often, and politicians say often, I see this, that's what he said, but I have
07:07to be also more capable of delivering my emotions.
07:11And people will say, oh, please don't do this, because Friedrich Merz has shown some emotions, but in the wrong
07:18way, agonizing of arguments brought to him by the normal public.
07:24So, but it was clear what he meant.
07:27He has to deliver in a way that is understood, that the German public understands why the government is continuing
07:34on this reform path.
07:36And that is something, the most important thing, basically, that he has to do.
07:41You are a close aide to Gerhard Schröder.
07:44If you were in the same position now with Friedrich Merz, what would you recommend?
07:51What would be your advice to him?
07:54My advice would be, let Friedrich Merz be Friedrich Merz, especially towards the people around him.
08:01And so he has to be more the person that he actually is and not be this person on one
08:11day and the other on the next day.
08:13Because that's been sort of also a pattern in the last one and a half years that we've seen while
08:19he was in government.
08:20He was strong on one topic and then totally changed, flip-flop basically.
08:25And then was sort of the opposite on the next day when he saw some criticism coming up.
08:31So keep to your principles and continue on this reform path.
08:37Try to explain more, but in forms, in ways that are more amicable to you than the ones you've chosen
08:45in the past.
08:47Okay.
08:48Thank you so much, Mr. Ender.
08:49It was great having you on the show.
08:52Thank you, Stefan.
08:53One of these days.
08:54And have a good flight.
08:54I heard that you're going to go to the airport now.
09:02Bela Ender, former government spokesman under Gerhard Schröder.
09:07Ukraine is fighting on three fronts.
09:09On the battlefield, Russia continues to press its advantage, while Ukraine is increasingly taking the war deep into Russian territory.
09:17Diplomatically, there's a fresh U.S. effort to revive peace talks.
09:21And economically, Ukraine faces another enormous challenge, keeping the country running.
09:28Joining me now is Timothy Milovanov, a former Ukrainian minister of economic development, trade and agriculture, and now president of
09:35the Kiev School of Economics.
09:37Good morning, sir.
09:38Good morning.
09:39So let us start with the battlefield.
09:42Is Ukraine holding the line, losing ground, or beginning to regain the initiative?
09:51So it's still losing, on average, this year, but at a very, very small, really minimal rate.
09:59And, for example, if you do a calculation, just, you know, back-of-the-envelope calculation, how much time Russia
10:06would need to achieve its objectives in Donbass, that would be four and a half years.
10:11Maybe up to 10 years, if we take the last months, the summer months, rate of advance.
10:17So, yeah, de facto, the front line is stale.
10:22U.S. envoys have been in Moscow, in Kiev, but there has been no breakthrough.
10:28Are these serious peace negotiations, or simply another round of diplomatic positioning?
10:36There are serious attempts at starting negotiations.
10:39So that's exactly what it is.
10:41There are no negotiations yet.
10:43They offer what we hear, again, I don't have direct access to.
10:47This is a very tight inner circle for obvious reasons.
10:50But, you know, what actually Americans are saying, American sources to us, to me, to our school are saying, and
10:56some of Ukrainian sources are saying,
10:58that the Russian position has not really changed since the February talks.
11:04That means limiting army of Ukraine, giving up more unoccupied territory, and recognizing legally the occupied territories as Russian.
11:17Practically, all of these demands are not feasible, because they would contradict a constitution that would take years for Ukraine,
11:25even to attempt to do that.
11:27Plus, committing people in unoccupied territories to Russian rule, that's a travesty, and no, no Ukrainian will ever accept that.
11:37So, you know, nothing has changed.
11:39But there are attempts to establish a process.
11:41You know, there is a discussion about maybe a trilateral meeting, another round.
11:46This is a development, but a very limited one.
11:51All right.
11:51When you look at Ukraine today, after years of war, are you more optimistic or more worried than you were
11:58a year ago?
11:58You have 30 seconds.
12:00Both.
12:01I am pessimistic or worried that the war will take a long time.
12:05But I'm optimistic that Ukraine will hold.
12:08It's ready for a prolonged war, even though it will be very, very costly on people.
12:14All right.
12:14Timothy Milovanov, former Ukrainian economy minister, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning.
12:21A meeting of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group is taking place today amid the urgent need for Ukrainian
12:28air defense.
12:29The meeting will be attended by U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who is due to brief allies on
12:36the severe challenge facing Ukraine and NATO when it comes to air defenses.
12:41Our NATO correspondent, Shona Murray, joins me now with details.
12:45Good morning, Shona.
12:47Good morning, Shona.
12:49U.S. Envoice, tell us about this online meeting.
12:54I'm still on the diplomatic line here.
12:56So there's real concern that the U.S. cannot fulfill the demands from Europe and from Ukraine for air defenses
13:03due to the Iran war.
13:05So where does that leave NATO and Ukraine?
13:08I think this is what we can say is very much a cautionary tale for European strategic autonomy.
13:14Because, as we know, the Europeans have been purchasing these Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine to intercept these Russian
13:23ballistic missiles that are coming fast and heavy, even overnight.
13:27Before the Iran war, this is also a risky strategy because the Europeans should have been investing in their own
13:33industrial base to be able to provide interceptors as well for Ukraine.
13:37Cue the Iran war and we know the United States has burned through critical munitions, including these Patriot defense systems.
13:44Now, the system itself is about a billion dollars.
13:47A missile is about four million dollars.
13:48So you're talking very expensive, very complicated to produce.
13:52And at the moment, there's absolute scarcity.
13:54That term scarcity is what I've heard from NATO officials for the past few days.
13:58This meeting today will very much focus on getting these interceptors to Ukraine.
14:02But there's a lag because the production can't keep up with the need.
14:06Now, what we saw is Germany has been given the license to manufacture them.
14:10What I've heard is that won't happen.
14:13There won't be any production until really December.
14:15And even with that, half of that needs to go to the United States because America also needs these systems.
14:20And then we saw the NATO summit, Donald Trump telling Zelensky, you can produce them.
14:24But that will take years to get that production up and running.
14:27So this is a real issue for European defense and something the Europeans should have been thinking about in the
14:32long term.
14:34Interesting, Michonne.
14:35Now, from Washington, it's Undersecretary Colby, who is attending, and not the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
14:43Is there a special message?
14:44Well, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is something that the Americans set up under the Biden administration.
14:49Lloyd Austin, who was Secretary of Defense at the time, when the Trump administration came in, Pete Hegseth said,
14:54I don't want really to chair this.
14:56So Elbridge Colby would be there.
14:57But the other point about him being there is he would be briefing NATO allies on America's plans to withdraw
15:04U.S. troops from NATO territory.
15:07Now, not all the troops is around 80,000 to 85,000.
15:09But certainly they are giving, they're in the middle of a posture review.
15:13So that is not great news when it comes to European security at a time when the war in Ukraine
15:18is really hardening.
15:20The ballistic missiles are really attacking and killing civilians.
15:23And we're coming into winter.
15:25So that's going to be also probably a difficult conversation.
15:28Stefan.
15:28All right, Shona.
15:29Thank you so much, Shona Murray, our NATO correspondent.
15:32The convicted Bosnian-Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic was given a pompous funeral in Belgrade yesterday with government ministers among
15:41those paying their tributes.
15:43That's despite warnings from the EU that any glorification of his death would be incompatible with the bloc's values.
15:51For more, I'm joined again by Marit Gwynn, who has followed this story closely.
15:56Good morning, Marit.
15:58Good morning, Stefan.
15:58So first off, tell us about what happened yesterday at the funeral.
16:02Indeed.
16:03Just to remind our viewers, the message we were getting from Serbian officials yesterday was that this funeral of Ratko
16:09Mladic, a convicted war criminal, would be organised by the family and not by the state.
16:15So the Serbian government really trying to say this is not a funeral with state honours.
16:20However, Stefan, the images, and I think our viewers can see them on the screen shortly, coming out from that
16:25funeral seemed to tell a very different story.
16:28We saw the coffin of Mladic draped in the Serbian flag, flanked by what looked like military officials.
16:36Local media also reporting that there were at least three government ministers present to pay their tributes.
16:42This suddenly felt like a funeral with pomp, with fanfare, and for many people did look at least like a
16:49funeral with state honours.
16:51The European Commission was asked about this yesterday as these images were coming out of Belgrade.
16:56They were asked about the nature of this funeral, and they again repeated this message about not tolerating the glorification
17:03of genocide and this war criminal.
17:08But they did say that it was not the case that this was a funeral with state honours.
17:14Now, that has not gone down well in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
17:18We can take a look at a statement that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bosnia put out yesterday, directed
17:24at the commission's spokesperson.
17:26They said, are you even aware of what you are saying?
17:29Five ministers, they said, from the Serbian government were seated in the front row at the funeral.
17:34A convicted war criminal was given military honours.
17:37What are you afraid of?
17:39Why are you unwilling to call this what it is?
17:42So it's clear, Stefan, that the reaction of the commission, because there has been the cancelling of the trip of
17:47Marta Koz, the EU's enlargement chief, to Serbia, but no real action beyond words of condemnation.
17:52And this is generating frustration in Bosnia, but also in the wider international community.
17:58And surely, Marit, Brussels is now under pressure to take action, is it not?
18:04Well, you would think so.
18:05I spoke to a diplomat who said that, in fact, there will be no appetite now amongst member states to
18:12open the next phase of Serbia's accession talks, the talks of becoming an EU member.
18:16And they do need the unanimous approval of all member states to do that.
18:20So there will be an impact.
18:21But the question is now, is Brussels, is the commission willing to go further?
18:25Because theoretically, there are more that they could do.
18:28We know in the past they've frozen the accession process of Georgia over fears of democratic backsliding.
18:35We know that in the past they've also withheld funding from Serbia over controversial judicial reforms.
18:41That was earlier this year.
18:43But I spoke to officials last night, also this morning.
18:46For now, no confirmation as to whether they're going to go further and actually introduce some repercussions and punitive measures
18:53against Serbia.
18:54And this is because this is a very sensitive subject, Stefan.
18:57The commission does see the enlargement into the Western Balkans of the EU as a geo-strategic imperative.
19:04Serbia is a really key, crucial country in that regard.
19:08They don't want to let Serbia fall further into Russia's orbit.
19:11And so this is a very delicate balancing act for the commission as well.
19:15Right. And we will be following that.
19:17You will be following the story very closely.
19:19Marek, thank you so much for your great reporting.
19:22That's it for today.
19:23Stay tuned for more news here on Euronews and Euronews.com throughout the day.
19:29I'm Stefan Grobe.
19:30Take care and see you tomorrow.
19:40Take care and see you tomorrow.