policy making principle putting business first, not military power well, suddenly it looked like weakness. chancellor olaf scholz promised dramatic change. my guest is state secretary for economic cooperation niels annen. so, has germany got a new strategic vision? niels annen, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. pleasure. well, it s great to be here. let s start with the war in ukraine. i think there s no doubt that putin s invasion of ukraine shocked germany. would it be fair to say it has also destabilised germany? no, i don t think so. but it certainly shocked germany because a lot of our economic model was based on the assumption that we would continue using cheap russian natural gas. and it was also based in a kind of historic, should i say, historic experience that although russia was a competitor and an enemy in the cold war, it was always also, in economic terms, a quite reliable partner. and i think that was somehow, you know, seen as a constant policy. and we did n
i m ben brown in the studio our other top stories this hour... as the regulator ofgem lowers the price cap for gas and electricity, there are fresh calls for the government to stop a rise in energy bills in april. a new panorama investigation uncovers evidence that women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres,in the uk. the first female speaker of the house of commons, betty boothroyd, dies at the age of 93. good afternoon from windsor, where rishi sunak and the eu have struck a new agreement to amend post brexit trading rules with the eu. the prime minister said the deal marked a decisive breakthrough after years of wrangling, allowing smooth, free flowing trade while preserving the belfast agreement, the setttlement which underpins devolved government in northern ireland. mr sunak said the agreement would remove any sense of a border in the irish sea, the chief complaint of unionists who have boycotted stormont in prote
week. we will bring you that live. fresh calls for the government to stop energy bill rises in april as the energy regulator ofgem lowers the price cap for gas and electricity. a new panorama investigation uncovers evidence that women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the uk. the first female speaker of the houses of commons, betty boothroyd dies aged 93. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. we ll be live in windsor shortly but first, just to let you know we re expecting a news conference very shortly in belfast from police investigating the shooting last week of det chief inspectorjohn caldwell. two gunmen shot the 48 year old several times in front of his young son at a sports complex on wednesday evening. mr caldwell remains critically ill in hospital. six people remain in police custody for questioning. this is the scene, the podium, as we expect the conference getting under way. there are significant developm