Final Word from Monday, November 24, 2025

A cartoon in Süddeutsche Zeitung pictures a deflating Friedrich Merz and says, "The air is gone." The same could be said of Petr Fiala, although both he and Merz are still very much in control in their countries. Merz was one of the Europeans who Fiala indirectly said in the Financial Times in March should take a stronger leadership role in Europe. The result is an EU position at the U.N. COP30 climate conference in Brazil that, as ARD of Germany put it, "is particularly disappointing for those who fought until the very end for a binding plan to phase out coal, oil and gas." Germany had wanted a binding plan for an Ausstieg, ARD said, but "in vain." Also among those pushing for it was the CR. The Czech negotiator, Pavel Zámyslický, said that the EU wanted much greater emphasis on an exit from fossil fuels. This reveals the degree to which the Fiala government is putting on a big show to cap ETS2 allowances and to delay the end of combustion engines but is otherwise following Berlin's lead on climate policy. [ Czech Republic European Union environmental chancellor PM ]