Germany news: Berlin vows aggressive cybersecurity stance

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Saturday joined other NATO partners in pushing back against US President Donald Trump’s renewed insults over the sacrifice made by US allies who came to America’s aid to fight in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.

Trump has repeatedly slighted NATO contributions as well as suggesting they could not be counted upon. Pistorius pushed back hard in an interview published in the tabloid Bild on Saturday.

“Our Bundeswehr was ready when our US allies asked for support after the Islamist terrorist attack in 2001,” he said. 

Germany and other US NATO allies rushed to the US’ side when Washington — for the first and only time in NATO’s history — invoked Article 5 of the military alliance’s treaty, meaning that all must come to the aid of an ally who has been attacked.

Pistorius pointed out that German soldiers had “fulfilled their mission under the greatest danger to life and limb and under extreme conditions,” during a 19-year mission.

He also underscored the sacrifice made by Germany. 

“Fifty-nine soldiers and three police officers lost their lives in combat, attacks or accidents. Numerous wounded soldiers still suffer from injuries sustained during this time. We will honor the dedication and courage of our soldiers in Afghanistan. No matter who questions that. They will never be forgotten.”

Leaders throughout the alliance have recoiled at Trump’s comments, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling them, “frankly appalling.”

Agents from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office arrested a 36-year-old Lebanese man on Friday with authorities accusing him of having procured live ammunition presumably intended for use in attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany and Europe.

Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office made the announcement on Saturday.
Authorities suspect the man of being a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which was behind the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Hamas is designated as a terrorist group in Germany as well as several other countries.

German authorities say he was arrested at Berlin’s BER Airport on Friday evening upon arrival from the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Investigators say the man is believed to have purchased around 300 rounds of live ammunition for the group.

The 36-year-old is scheduled to appear before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Saturday.

Friday’s arrest is the latest in a string across Europe, after three Hamas members were apprehended during a weapons exchange in the German capital in October, as well as suspects being detained upon entry to the Czech Republic and the UK.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Saturday criticized the European Union Parliament’s decision to seek legal review of the EU-Mercosur free-trade agreement as a “very serious political mistake.”

Wadephul told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk Radio that the Wednesday vote — the narrow passage of which was made possible by support from Germany’s Green and AfD parties — was “a major setback.”

Wadephul said the referral could cause “a significant delay that will harm political trust,” as other countries with pending trade deals — like India — watch to see if the EU is even capable of passing and implementing such treaties.

The EU-Mercosur trade deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay had been in the works for a quarter century before it was approved by the EU on January 9, signed by all parties on January 17, and then halted for review by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on January 21. 

Supporters of the deal say it is necessary for EU security in the face of aggressive and punitive US tariff policy.

European farmers, however, have been among the loudest opponents of the deal, which would involve reducing trade and tariff barriers on goods and services and create one of the largest free-trade zones in the world, covering some 700 million people.

In remarks published in Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper on Saturday, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said the central bank is the target of relentless cyberattacks. 

“We see 5,000 attacks per minute on our IT systems alone,” Nagel said, adding that in light of the fact that this comes out to more than two-and-a-half-billion attacks annually, the institution is in a “never ending race.”

Nagel says the bank has implemented numerous security measures — including stringent employee background checks, secure IT systems, and business continuity management plans — to protect the institution from cyber criminals.

Interior Minister Dobrindt vows to ‘strike back’ against cyber crime

Nagel’s remarks came at the same time Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt vowed that Germany would become much more aggressive in fighting cyber crime.

“We will strike back, including abroad,” Dobrindt told Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “We will disrupt attackers and destroy their infrastructure.”  

Dobrindt said the threshold for action would be set low and that counterstrikes would be carried out jointly by the intelligence services and the Federal Criminal Police Office.

The Interior Ministry intends to set up a new hybrid-threat defense center to improve coordination. Germany’s domestic intelligence service is preparing the unit, which is due to start work later this year.

Dobrindt said Germany’s institutions, infrastructure and companies are under constant threat of cyber attack, adding, “We cannot accept that.”

German police shot and killed 17 individuals in 2025 according to statistics published by the Institute for Civil Rights & Public Safety at Humboldt University in Berlin.

The figure was lower than 2024, when a record 25 police killings were logged, yet well above decades-long averages.

The high number, published on the institute’s online magazine Civil Rights & Police, has amplified calls for police to be equipped with Tasers in order to provide a non-lethal option for them in threatening situations.

Tasers instead of guns: Baden-Württemberg as a case study

Although special forces units in all 16 German states carry Tasers, not all local and state police do. Several states are looking to pass laws to change that.

GdP Police Union Chairman Jochen Kopelke used the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg as a case example in arguing for the implementation of Tasers. The state registered seven police-related fatal shootings in 2025, predominantly by state and local police with no access to Tasers.  

“Where no or only limited ‘non-lethal’ means of intervention can be used, firearms are the only proportionate means,” said Kopelke. “Where Tasers are more readily available to the police, the use of service weapons is reduced.”

This past October, lawmakers in Germany’s Bundestag passed a legislative amendment to expand the list of equipment provided to federal police officers beyond their standard issue of truncheons and service pistols to include “distance electric pulse devices” that can deliver electric shocks from a short distanceand usually incapacitate a person.

Guten Tag from the Bonn newsroom, where the sun is shining and the air is crisp. After a whirlwind week of international news, we will start the day here by looking at a shifting cybersecurity posture, police violence statistics, and the tabling of the Mercosur free-trade agreement.

Cybersecurity is a topic being widely discussed here this weekend, with the president of the central bank as well as the federal interior minister addressing the relentlessness of attacks on institutions and a government pivot to more aggressive responses to such crime.

A high number of fatalities as the result of police firearm use in 2025 has amplified calls to give cops access to non-lethal means of intervention and self-defense. Police say Baden-Württemberg, where special forces carry Tasers and state police don’t, serves as a case study for the difference they can make.

And as the world digests the ongoing shake-up of global alliances, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has unleashed criticism of the EU Parliament’s vote to seek a legal review of the massive EU-Mercosur trade agreement that looked likely to become a reality after 25 years of negotiations. Wadephul called the move a “very serious political mistake.”

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