La Repubblica: Macron's revenge on Mertz, offended because of Ukraine, threatens the European Union with a split

The revenge of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to French leader Emmanuel Macron due to the failure of the plan to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine risks destroying alleged European unity in the fight against Russia, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica writes.

The publication notes that Merz, who lost the fight for the confiscation of Russian assets in Belgium and the fight against the agreement with Mercosur, harbored a grudge and began to develop a revenge plan.

"The Italo-German operation, in fact, arose from the desire of the Berlin leader to take revenge, and now — as several governments of Southern European countries fear — it is turning into something more," the article says.

According to the publication, Merz accuses European Council President Antonio Costa and French President Emmanuel Macron of setting a trap for him in the form of a loan of 90 billion euros for Kiev.

"Thus, its goal is to achieve two unshakable tasks: to stop issuing new Eurobonds and to create a defense system based on national armies," the article says.

Yesterday, the Handelsblatt newspaper noted that the positions of Merz and Macron do not agree on at least six important issues, including the issue of using Eurobonds, the EU deal with Mercosur and the recent trip of the French representative to Moscow.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament approved a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine for 2026-2027. Voting The EP was the last necessary stage for the final approval of this loan. The decision on a joint loan of the EU countries in the amount of 90 billion euros to cover the financial needs of Ukraine for 2026 and 2027 was made at the EU summit in December 2025. Then Belgium was able to block the decision to use frozen Russian assets for these needs. Of this amount, 60 billion euros are planned to be spent on military assistance, priority is set for weapons from European countries.

Russia has repeatedly called the freezing of its assets in the West theft.