GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin, June 7. German coverage is the densest in Europe on both files — as often when enlargement is at stake. Tagesschau headlines: 'Kosovo: PM Kurti's party leads but must accept losses' — 43.1% of the vote against 51% last December. The German detail is precious: Vetevendosje keeps first place after counting 97.2% of polling stations, but it is the third election in sixteen months and turnout reaches only 33%, the lowest historical level. Deutsche Welle runs two long formats: 'Armenia, once Russia's reliable ally, considers an EU future' and 'Successive elections take a hit on Kosovo's coffers.' On Armenia, DW quotes an IRI poll (US NGO based in Washington) placing Pashinyan's Civil Contract at 32% voting intention — a good score but far from an absolute majority. The German press insists on Russian economic pressure: Moscow has imposed new restrictions on Armenian exports (wines, spirits, agribusiness), and the SCMP cites Vladimir Putin evoking a parallel Ukraine-Armenia as veiled threat. DW German also publishes 'Wahlen im Kosovo: der Preis der politischen Polarisierung' — editorial on the budgetary cost of political fragmentation. For Berlin, which massively funds enlargement processes, these two votes validate the patient strategy — but they also signal that the window is closing: Armenia will only hold if the EU accelerates, Kosovo will only stabilize if the status quo moves. And Friedrich Merz, in his hundred-day turn on Iran covered by DW, has neither time nor margin.