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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
After adopting a strategy of never disagreeing with Trump in public and being criticized in Spain for his “vassalage” to the USA, Merz made a rare statement disapproving a White House decision.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this Friday criticized the United States for temporarily suspending certain sanctions on Russian oil.
In a joint statement with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Merz said Berlin disagrees with Washington’s approach. “We think this is wrong“, said the German leader. “Currently there is a price problem, but not a supply problem. And, in this sense, I would like to know what other factors led the US government to make this decision”, quotes the .
The Trump administration’s decision was announced on Thursday night and allows the delivery and sale of Russian oil that was trapped at sea due to current sanctions. The measure aims to to overcome the galloping rise in prices global energy markets following the recent US and Israeli military attacks against Iran.
Merz revealed that the announcement took him by surprise. According to the chancellor, several G7 members had urged Washington at the beginning of the week not to ease sanctions pressure on Russia. During a video conference on Wednesday, partners will have warned that the easing of restrictions could benefit Moscow at a delicate moment for international security.
“We want to guarantee that Russia does not exploit the war in Iran to weaken Ukraine,” Merz said. “And we will not allow Moscow to test NATO on its eastern flank and here in the north.”
The chancellor stressed that Germany continues to closely coordinate diplomatic efforts to end the conflict with its G7 partners and Israel, but expressed concern that Washington and Tel Aviv still do not have a clear strategy on how to resolve the situation.
“We don’t need vassals to Trump”
This statement comes after Merz was criticized for his excessively docile response to Donald Trump’s external decisions and threats, such as the kidnapping of Maduro, the attack on Iran or the persistent covetousness of the Danish territory of Greenland.
The German chancellor has adopted a stance of never disagreeing, at least in public, with the North American president, preferring to focus on diplomatic efforts in private and in not aggravate tensions with Washington.
Recently, Trump himself praised the leaders of Germany and France for their support, while at the same time for their delay in approving the use of British military bases by American forces. “I never thought I’d see this coming from the UK. We love the UK. But it is a very different type of relationship from the one we had with your country before”, he criticized.
The approach of Merz and also of French President Emmanuel Macron has contrasted with that of Pedro Sánchez, who categorically rejected letting the US use Spanish military bases to attack Iran, remembering that the bombings violate international law. In retaliation, Trump .
“It is naive to believe that democracies and respect between nations spring from ruins or to think that practice blind and servile following It’s a way of leading. Our position is not naive, on the contrary, it is coherent. We will not be complicit in something that is bad for the world and contrary to our interests simply for fear of reprisals from someone”, stated the leader of the Spanish government.
In an interview with this Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz directly criticized Merz, stating that the German Chancellor “have no idea how to manage the historic moment we are living in”.
“What Europe needs today is leadership, not from vassals who honor Trump. Article 1 of the United Nations Charter is clear about what defines an illegitimate war. Any EU leader is expected to speak out clearly in defense of international law,” he said.
Díaz’s criticism comes after Merz was disgraced in Spain for remaining silent during a White House press conference on March 3, at which Trump threatened to impose an embargo on Madrid and harshly criticized Sánchez for his refusal to commit 5% of his GDP to military spending.
After the meeting, the chancellor claimed that he did not speak because I didn’t want to risk “aggravating” the situation contradicting Trump in public and claimed that he told the president, behind closed doors, that economic sanctions cannot be imposed on a single EU country.
Merz’s statement did little to calm tempers, with Spanish Foreign Minister José Luis Albares saying he believed former chancellors Angela Merkel or Olaf Scholz would not remain silent in the face of the same situation.
This Monday, Merz reiterated his support for the US-Israel offensive. “Iran is the center of international terrorism. This center must be closed, and the Americans and Israelis They’re doing it their own way“, he declared.
Díaz believes that relations between Berlin and Madrid can be repaired, but reinforces the need to reinforce Europe’s “strategic autonomy”. “And we need reduce our technological dependencefinancial and energy from both the United States and Beijing. We need to own our own essence.”
