We explore the defining moments of the German election campaign and debate the security-and-submarine deal between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom that enraged France.

POLITICO's Andrew Gray, Matthew Karnitschnig and Emily Schultheis are in Berlin for the big one, Sunday's German general election, which will bring down the curtain on the Angela Merkel era. They're joined by our in-house polling expert Cornelius Hirsch to the tell story of a surprising campaign that's gone down to the wire: The center-left Social Democrats, with their chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, have a narrow lead over the conservative camp and their standard-bearer Armin Laschet but it's too close to call.

Then we turn to AUKUS, the three-way pact that scuppered a multibillion-dollar French submarine deal with Australia, provoking fury in Paris and triggering transatlantic turbulence.

POLITICO's Zoya Sheftalovich joins us from Sydney to explain why Australia went from agreeing to buy French diesel-fueled submarines to holding secret talks to replace that deal with a nuclear-powered fleet. Rym Momtaz and David M. Herszenhorn talk through the diplomatic fallout from the move.

Finally, set a reminder to join us for a live Twitter audio chat on the German election results this Sunday at 10 p.m. CET. We'll be analyzing the outcome and getting a flavor of the mood among the parties.

That discussion will be the basis for a special episode of EU Confidential, which will drop into your feed early Monday morning. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss it.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.