NBP: Chief Analyst Kotłowski Sees Limited Spillover From Energy Shock For Now

The parties of the federal 'grand coalition' are due to hold discussions and a formal summit in Berlin today from 16:30CET (10:30ET, 15:30BST). The summit comes as the parties continue to struggle with the fallout from three state elections in September, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and far-left Die Linke made significant gains at the expense of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its junior coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). 

• Politico reports, "It's likely to be a very fundamental meeting. It's described as a "working meeting, not a decision-making body." This will include taking stock of the budget and the goal of "agreeing on further steps and timelines." The discussions will focus on pensions, previously discussed labor market liberalizations, and virtually all outstanding tax issues."
• The gov't has just five weeks to reach agreements on all tax measures, incluiding the controversial sugar tax, before the reconviliation meeting of the Budget Committee takes place on 12 November.
• Tensions between the CDU and SPD have been heightend over the past 24 hours amid speculation that CDU lawmakers in the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt voted in favour of the AfD's candidate for speaker of the state legislature. The election sparked a march from SPD members of the Bundestag in Berlin, with co-leader Lars Klingbeil demanding answers from the CDU on if/how their lawmakers broke the 'firewall' around the AfD. 

"THERE HAVE BEEN NO NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN IRAN, US ABOUT TEHRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME: SENIOR IRANIAN OFFICIAL TO REUTERS"
"US MUST FIRST MEET TEHRAN'S CONDITIONS BEFORE NUCLEAR ISSUE CAN BE DISCUSSED: SENIOR IRANIAN OFFICIAL TO REUTERS" RTRS

"US IDEAS ABOUT IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME ARE AT ODDS WITH IRAN'S DEMANDS: SENIOR IRANIAN OFFICIAL TO REUTERS" RTRS