Germany's top economists say Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s debt-fueled spending plan will give only a short lift without structural change. One expert warned that high costs, skills shortages, and heavy bureaucracy are masking deeper weaknesses, while another likened the economy to an addict "junkie" on a temporary fix. The warning piles pressure on Merz, who has promised an "autumn of reforms" and said the country needed "a new consensus" on how its welfare state should look. In other news, a German government decision in August to restrict weapons sales to Israel has led to zero approved new deliveries in the intervening period. Stay tuned for the latest news and analysis on a range of issues connected with Germany from Thursday, September 25: