(LONDON) — Before the final votes in Germany’s election were even counted, Friedrich Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, who is set to become the next chancellor, promised a major shift in relations with the U.S.
In a post-election debate, he promised to confront head-on a new reality — that the Trump administration looks to overturn about 80 years of policy and raises the prospect of abandoning security guarantees for Europe.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Merz said Sunday.
Merz added, “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Merz’s conservative CDU party emerged as the largest party in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, with 28.6% of the vote. The SPD, the party of the incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, came in third place.
Trump and members of his both his administrations have called over the years for U.S. allies to invest more in NATO, and for Europe to take responsibility for its own security.
“However, we’ve also made it clear for years — decades, even — that it is unacceptable that the United States and the United States taxpayer continues to bear the burden not only of the cost of the war in Ukraine but of the defense of — of Europe,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said last week.
He added, “We fully support our NATO Allies. We fully support the Article 5 commitment. But it’s time for our European allies to step up.”
Merz also talked about NATO, suggesting there may even be need to replace the military alliance with a new European security structure.
“I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June,” he said. “Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”
His remarks were made before the final votes were counted.
This month, Vice President JD Vance made a speech at the Munich Security Conference, telling European leaders the biggest threats they faced were from “within,” downplaying the security risks posed by China or Russia.
As Germany seeks to recalibrate its relationship with the U.S., the second party in the elections, the far-right Alternative for Germany, were jubilant at their strongest ever showing.
Notably backed by Elon Musk, the AFD’s strong showing, which doubled the level of support they received last time out, was hailed as a victory of its own.
It’s the strongest showing of a far-right party in Germany since World War II.
“We have achieved a historic result. We have never been stronger in the federal parliament,” Alice Weidel, the co-chair of the party, told a cheering crowd. “We have become the second strongest force as Alternative for Germany. And we have now firmly established ourselves as a people’s party.”
Musk on Monday said in a social media post that it was “only a matter of time” until AfD wins an election.
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