Merz emphasized that Europe must speak with one voice and take a firm stand.
Germany’s conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz called on Europe on Thursday to show the strength to take a firm stand during the upcoming second term of US President-elect Donald Trump. TASR informs according to the DPA agency.
“This will make an impression in America,” Merz told public broadcaster ZDF. As he emphasized, Europe must speak with one voice.
“Donald Trump is not impressed by weakness, but only by strength, even the opposition,” he said, adding that, in his opinion, this is the way Europe could approach the new government in Washington.
Merz is aspiring to Germany’s top political post after the government of his rival, Social Democratic incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, collapsed this week, DPA reports.
Merz and other opposition leaders called for an immediate vote by Scholz
Together with other representatives of the opposition in Germany, he called on Scholz to call an immediate vote of confidence in his currently already minority government as soon as possible and then call early elections. Scholz himself is still insisting on his original plan to call a vote of confidence in the government only in January 2025.
Merz is the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and stresses that Germany must do more for its own security. According to him, the business model of cheap imports, expensive exports and letting the United States pay for security has already run its course.
“But it’s not that dramatic. We need to adapt to it, manage it and accept the inevitable consequences,” concluded Merz, according to DPA.
