{"id":791798,"date":"2026-02-27T04:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/791798\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T04:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:53:14","slug":"greens-push-merz-to-probe-germanys-possible-epstein-links-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/791798\/","title":{"rendered":"Greens push Merz to probe Germany\u2019s possible Epstein links \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Conspiracy theories proliferate<\/p>\n<p>Green party leaders counter that the German public needs an open investigation in order to counter proliferating online conspiracy theories related to the Epstein files, many of them propagating antisemitic worldviews.<\/p>\n<p>There was a \u201csustained surge\u201d of antisemitic content across major social media platforms following the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s latest drop of documents related to Epstein and his crimes at the end of January, <a href=\"https:\/\/democ.de\/documents\/45\/The_Painter_Was_Right_Monitoring_Report_democ.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to a study by Democ<\/a>, a Berlin-based nonprofit that researches anti-democratic movements. In Germany, social media accounts associated with the extreme right have \u201cadopted and amplified\u201d such conspiracy theories, the study says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you leave it to others to explain and comment, conspiracy theories and narratives will sprout up,\u201d Mihalic and von Notz said in their statement to POLITICO. \u201cThe federal government must finally counter such wild and sometimes absurd speculation with decisive and transparent action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While no high-profile individuals in Germany have been directly connected to Epstein, German companies have been linked to the financier \u2014\u00a0most notably Deutsche Bank, which counted the convicted sex offender as a client.<\/p>\n<p>Germany\u2019s largest bank had said it would cut ties to Epstein at the end of 2018, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/boards-policy-regulation\/likes-have-cash-inside-deutsche-banks-slow-split-epstein-2026-02-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a Reuters report<\/a> based on U.S. documents, but the institution only cut those ties following Epstein\u2019s arrest in July 2019, the report says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs repeatedly emphasized since 2020, the bank acknowledges its mistake in accepting Jeffrey Epstein as a client in 2013,\u201d Deutsche Bank said in a statement sent to POLITICO. \u201cSince then, the bank has invested substantially in training, controls, and improving its operational processes, and has significantly strengthened its controls to combat financial crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe deeply regret our business relationship with Epstein at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>German lawmakers will discuss calls for an investigation during a Friday parliamentary debate initiated by the Greens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conspiracy theories proliferate Green party leaders counter that the German public needs an open investigation in order to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[5898,2000,299,33189,1945,1824,2817,2818,16,49],"class_list":["post-791798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-donald-tusk","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-financial-crime-fraud","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-germany","tag-intelligence","tag-intelligence-services","tag-uk","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116140808774949139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}