Merz
Friedrich Merz is a German politician and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag from 2000 to 2002, then spent years away from frontline federal politics in business and legal practice. He returned to active politics, was elected CDU chair in 2022, and is the party's candidate for Federal Chancellor of Germany.
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US proposed handing frozen Russian assets to Washington-controlled structure; Europeans rejected plan
The United States proposed that European countries partially unfreeze Russian sovereign assets and transfer them to a financial structure under the control of the Trump administration in order to revive peace talks on Ukraine. The plan was presented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at a meeting in Miami with representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the EU and NATO, and was reported by the Financial Times on 15 October. European delegates categorically rejected the proposal, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly insisted that the assets must remain under European control.