German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul travels to The Hague on Monday for talks with Dutch counterpart Tom Berendsen on the next EU budget, military cooperation and support for Ukraine, plus ICC meetings. Both nations resist the Commission’s €1.76 trillion 2028–34 plan.
Germany and the Netherlands are joined by Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Finland in resisting the proposal. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for it to be cut by several hundred billion euros; EU members aim to agree on the financial framework by year-end.
Wadephul plans to meet ICC President Tomoko Akane and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan. The US government has sanctioned Akane, saying she has repeatedly been involved in arrests or investigations of public officials whose governments have not consented to the ICC’s jurisdiction. At the UN General Debate last week, President Donald Trump called on the international community to withdraw en masse from the court.
