On Sunday, Friedrich Merz, the candidate for chancellor from the CDU/CSU, was declared the winner of the parliamentary elections in Germany.
The favored candidate for chancellor described U.S. intervention in the election campaign as equally problematic as Russian interference and advocated for Europe to become independent from the U.S. as soon as possible.
“Interventions from Washington were no less dramatic, drastic, and shameless than those we experienced from Moscow,” said Friedrich Merz in a conversation with party representatives on public television after the parliamentary elections.
He stated that U.S. President Donald Trump has shown that the fate of Europe is completely irrelevant to Americans.
Merz particularly criticized the support of Trump associate Elon Musk for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The potential future chancellor said that Germany is under pressure from many sides and, therefore, called for greater unity in Europe.
“I never thought I would say these words on German television, but now the absolute priority is achieving unity in Europe and strengthening Europe to the point where it can gradually become independent from the U.S.,” said the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
He added that he is looking forward to the NATO summit in June.
“The issue is whether, by then, we will be able to talk about NATO in its current form or if we will need to create a European defense capability even sooner,” Merz concluded.
