Germany will soon announce its response to the alleged drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. The investigation is nearing its end, and within the federal government, he says, there is already broad consensus on how to react. The incident happened at the beginning of August - which means that "soon" in this case means a month later.

"We are in the final phase of the investigation," Merz said, promising the decision would be announced in the coming days. "It will not take much longer," he added. Berlin is preparing to attribute responsibility to Russia and to announce tougher measures next week. German officials are giving no details for now - the official attribution comes once the investigation is complete.

The measures are coordinated in advance

Merz was also precise about who knows what is coming: "It is already coordinated. In the coming days it will be finalised with the European Union and with our partners in NATO." And then the sentence that says the most: "It will be a German response, but our partners in the EU and NATO will not be surprised by it."

In other words - the response is German by signature, but collective by content. That is both the strength and the weakness of this model: no European state answers alone any more, but nobody can react faster than the slowest member of the group either.

The options are broader than before

The possible measures go beyond what Berlin has already done - expelling diplomats and closing the Russian cultural centre. On the table are additional sanctions and increased weapons deliveries to Ukraine, coordinated with the new sanctions package being prepared in Brussels.

Meanwhile, German intelligence services found a weapons cache near Berlin. According to their suspicions, the weapons may have been intended for Russian operatives carrying out assassinations on orders from Moscow. If that is confirmed, the conversation is no longer about drones over an airport, but about something that happens to states at war.

Will Europe react in time - or coordinate until the response loses its meaning? The Balkans know well what it looks like when institutions first deliberate at length and then rush. The difference is that here the deliberation lasts a month, not a decade.