Germany Pushes Regulation, Military, Bio-Hazard Reform

The European Commission delivered the day's biggest regulatory surprise. Acting under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation -- and for the first time against a Chinese deal -- it opened an in-depth probe into JD.com's proposed €2.2 billion takeover of German electronics retailer Ceconomy, the owner of MediaMarkt and Saturn. "JD.com may have received foreign subsidies distorting the EU internal market," the Commission said, citing possible "preferential financing, tax incentives and grants." JD.com -- China's third-largest online retailer after Alibaba and Temu -- said the review was a "normal procedural step" and that the deal would be financed "by bank loans and cash from our ordinary activities." Ceconomy holds a 22 percent stake in France's Fnac Darty, where Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky owns 28.5 percent and has launched his own takeover bid. The Commission was notified on 17 April and has until 2 October 2026 to decide.

The Bundeswehr build-out moved on two fronts. The Defence Ministry published a draft law that would let it call reservists to peacetime duty -- not only during a state of tension or defence -- to feed Defence Minister Boris Pistorius' target of 260,000 active troops and a fully equipped 200,000-strong reserve. In parallel, the Bundeswehr ordered more than 2,000 logistic trucks from Rheinmetall worth roughly €1 billion, in 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 variants, with deliveries from 2026; the contract sits inside Chancellor Friedrich Merz's stated goal of building Europe's strongest conventional army and is meant to plug the rear-area logistics gaps that military leaders have flagged in their warnings about a Russian threat by 2029.

A rare biological scare ran through Berlin in parallel. The US doctor infected with the rare Bundibugyo Ebola virus and being treated at Charité hospital improved sharply, with laboratory values "nearly normal" and viral load dropping rapidly, infectious-disease director Leif Erik Sander told reporters; the patient did not require ventilation and is receiving antiviral combination therapy. His wife and four children remain in separate quarantine without symptoms and on preventive antibody treatment. The case has exposed practical gaps in Germany's preparedness for biological hazards, prompting Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) to commit to a draft health-security law by summer.

The constraint behind everything was the SPD. Finance Minister and party leader Lars Klingbeil pushed forward austerity measures including potential cuts to housing and parental benefits, even as Social Democrat polling fell to about 12 percent against the 16.4 percent the party won at the federal election, according to a Tagesschau analysis. Klingbeil's three hats -- finance minister, vice chancellor and SPD chair -- are colliding visibly: the coalition is still negotiating an income-tax reform before the summer recess with the CDU/CSU on terms unresolved, and the parental-benefit cut in particular is generating internal SPD resistance.

The energy file produced its own friction. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, a CDU politician and former energy-industry executive, continued to draw criticism for unwinding the climate policies of her Green predecessor -- including scrapping the renewable-heating mandate (formerly 65 percent, now 10 percent) and cutting solar subsidies via grid-fee reform that shifts cost onto rooftop owners. She is planning to build new gas-fired plants and frames the agenda around affordability. Her recent trip to China sought investment in renewables and e-mobility, putting her on the same posture-toward-Beijing question that the morning's JD.com probe brought to the surface.