Germany is seeking to strengthen ties with the Mercosur trade bloc and secure greater access to Argentina’s natural resources as part of an effort to reduce its economic dependence on the United States and China.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul attended the Mercosur summit in Paraguay on Tuesday before traveling to Argentina on Wednesday for talks aimed at expanding German companies’ access to the country’s natural resources, including lithium.

On Thursday, July 3, Wadephul continued his regional tour in Brazil, Mercosur’s largest economy.

Berlin hopes to increase exports to the South American bloc as it seeks to reduce its reliance on exports to the United States.

At the same time, the Trump administration is working to tighten its influence over Latin America. To that end, it is backing right-wing electoral candidates, including Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Washington is also expanding its military presence in the region under the stated objective of combating drug cartels and criminal gangs.

According to German Foreign Policy, Wadephul visited Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil this week. While in Paraguay, he also met Chilean President José Antonio Kast and Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna.

The main focus of his trip was strengthening relations with Mercosur, the South American trade bloc with which the European Union signed a free trade agreement after more than 25 years of negotiations.

Although the European Parliament suspended the agreement on January 21 for legal review, the European Commission decided to provisionally apply its trade provisions from May 1.

On Tuesday, Wadephul attended the Mercosur summit in Asunción, Paraguay, where several disagreements among member states became apparent.

One unresolved issue is how export quotas for agricultural products allocated to Mercosur under the EU free trade agreement should be distributed among member countries.

Tensions have also emerged after Argentina signed a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States in February. The move is viewed as conflicting with Mercosur’s founding principles and risks undermining the bloc’s cohesion.

For Germany and the EU, Mercosur is regarded as a partial alternative to exports destined for the US market, making relations with the bloc strategically important.

Alongside expanding trade, another key objective is broadening Germany’s access to critical raw materials.

Argentina possesses some of the world’s largest lithium reserves. On Wednesday, Wadephul signed a memorandum of understanding intended to facilitate German companies’ access to the country’s raw material resources.

Australia is currently the largest investor in Argentina’s lithium sector, with Australian companies operating alongside firms from the US and the UK. China also maintains a significant presence in Argentina’s lithium industry.

Germany is attempting to differentiate itself from its competitors by pledging to help develop processing capacity within Argentina, a commitment Wadephul reiterated on Wednesday.

Under President Javier Milei, Argentina’s economy has shifted increasingly toward raw material exports, while its industrial sector has come under mounting pressure.

Expanding domestic processing of those resources could help alleviate some of those challenges. Representatives of Germany’s commodities industry accompanied Wadephul during the visit.

Germany’s new government has replaced the Bürgergeld citizens’ income benefit with a new basic income support scheme as part of a broader overhaul of the country’s welfare system.

The Bürgergeld benefit had been in force since 2023, replacing the previous Unemployment Benefit II. According to junge Welt (jW), the latest changes effectively mark the return of the “Hartz IV regime” introduced under former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2005.

Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas of the SPD on Wednesday described the reforms as “a strong signal against the abuse of social benefits.”

Steffen Kampeter, head of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, backed the move and called for the “consistent enforcement of stricter cooperation obligations.”

Officials at Bas’s ministry are currently drafting legislation governing how the new basic income support will be calculated. The process is referred to as the “standard needs assessment.”

The shift from Bürgergeld to the new basic income support represents more than a change in name. The central principle is that securing employment takes priority. If low-paid jobs are available and deemed “reasonable,” job seekers registered with employment agencies will be required to accept them. Failure to do so will result in benefit reductions.

According to the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the reform’s primary objective remains placing people into long-term employment, while vocational training and continuing education are given secondary importance.

Bas has likewise described the policy as one that “promotes employment rather than benefit dependency,” adding: “Everyone who is able to work must make an effort to find a job.”

According to a statement published on Wednesday by the organization Sanktionsfrei, that characterization does not reflect reality. Of the roughly 5.5 million people receiving basic income support, nearly two million are children and young people. At least 800,000 recipients are already working but must supplement their income because of low wages.

In addition, more than one million benefit recipients are unable to participate in the labor market because they care for relatives, look after children, are in education or are ill.

The share of recipients who “completely refuse” to seek work is negligible. Even the Federal Employment Agency’s Institute for Employment Research identified only around 100 such cases last year.

The federal government also plans to reduce housing benefits. Joachim Rock, managing director of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband, said on Wednesday that the move would push recipients of both basic income support and housing assistance further into poverty.

Older people and families would be particularly affected. At the same time, the governing coalition has pledged to eliminate homelessness by 2030.

Ines Schwerdtner, co-chair of Germany’s Left Party, argues that abolishing the standard benefit entirely would violate fundamental rights and is considering filing a constitutional complaint against the reforms with the Federal Constitutional Court.

Lawmakers from across the UK political spectrum have called for the Russian-produced animated series “Masha and the Bear” to be banned in Britain.

According to The Guardian, a cross-party group of lawmakers from the Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, Conservative Party, Green Party, Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru sent a joint letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

In the letter, the lawmakers called for the cartoon to be removed from broadcast, arguing that it constitutes “covert Russian propaganda.”

The MPs cited scenes in which the main character, Masha, appears wearing military symbols associated with the Soviet era.

According to the letter, Masha wears headgear resembling a Soviet tank crew helmet in one episode, while another depicts her wearing a cap similar to that of border guards from the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).

The lawmakers argued that such visual elements “normalize Soviet military iconography” among the show’s global audience of young children.

The letter, led by Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon and signed by more than 50 lawmakers, said urgent action was needed after streaming platform Netflix acquired the rights to the cartoon’s new seasons. The MPs also described the show’s availability on ITVX in the UK as unacceptable.

Melanie Bonvicino, speaking on behalf of Russian animation studio Animaccord, the producer and distributor of the series, firmly rejected the allegations.

Bonvicino described the accusations of propaganda as “false and defamatory,” adding:

“For nearly two decades, Masha and the Bear has brought joy to families in more than 100 countries through universal themes of friendship, kindness and imagination. There is no political subtext in the series, and any suggestion to the contrary is entirely inconsistent with its content.”

Inspired by a Russian folk tale and centered on the adventures of a young girl and a bear, the animated series ranks among the most-watched productions in YouTube history.

The seven-minute episode “Recipe for Disaster” has been viewed more than 4.6 billion times, earning a Guinness World Record as the most-viewed animated video.

Entertainment industry publication Deadline reported that Netflix had acquired the rights to the series’ eighth and ninth seasons while renewing agreements for previous seasons and related spin-offs.

The series is broadcast in more than 100 countries, including the US, Canada, France, Portugal, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Nordic countries and the Benelux region.

Political criticism of the cartoon has surfaced before. In 2018, The Times described the series in an analysis as an instrument of Russia’s “soft propaganda.”

At the time, the Russian Embassy in London mocked the allegation, saying: “Are you going to put all animators on the EU sanctions list? Clearly, a determined and costly approach is required.”

Most recently, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also criticized Netflix’s decision, saying Masha and the Bear forms part of the Kremlin’s “soft power” and calling for “moral clarity in the face of Soviet symbols.”