The Trump administration is indifferent to the fate of Europe, CDU’s Friedrich Merz has said
Germany must gain real independence from the US, Friedrich Merz, the projected winner of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, has said.
According to German media, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are projected to receive 28.5% of the vote, which means that Merz will likely become the next chancellor.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday night, Merz criticized US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Ukraine conflict.
“The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic, drastic, and ultimately outrageous than the intervention we saw from Moscow,” Merz told reporters on Sunday night, according to the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
“The Americans, at least those in the current government, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,” he said. The conservative politician went on to argue that Germany must boost its defense and “gradually achieve independence from the US.”
“I would have never thought that I would have to say something like that on a TV show,” he said.
Trump has demanded that America’s allies in Europe pay “a fair share” in defense spending and contribute more to NATO. He has also sidelined Ukraine and the EU when he reversed the Biden administration’s policy of “isolating” Russia and reopened direct talks with Moscow.
Trump’s major ally, billionaire Elon Musk, has endorsed the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is projected to become the second-largest party in the Bundestag.
Trump, nevertheless, has congratulated CDU on the victory. “Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration, that has prevailed for so many years,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
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