NATO could soon be finished “in its current form”, with Europe taking care of its own defence independently from America, Germany’s likely new leader has warned.
Friedrich Merz, who is set to become the new German chancellor, warned that Europe could no longer rely on the US following Donald Trump’s appeasement of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
A new European defence pact would be likely to involve the UK even though Britain has left the EU.
Mr Merz, whose party won more votes than any other in Germany’s weekend elections, warned that Mr Trump’s government “does not care much about the fate of Europe”.
The German leader added: “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.”
The 2025 NATO Summit is set to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 24-26 June this year. But Mr Merz said he did not know whether we “would still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly” by that time.
And he said Europe was under “massive pressure from two sides”, placing Mr Trump’s US in the same camp as Russia.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is heading to Washington on Thursday, following French president Emmanuel Macron’s visit on Monday.
European leaders have been shocked by Mr Trump’s assertion, which the president later backtracked on, that Ukraine started the war after Russia launched an unprovoked invasion three years ago.
Mr Trump has echoed Russian propaganda by claiming Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was a dictator and suggested he should stand down. However, Mr Trump has failed to criticise Putin.
The US has begun talks with Russia designed to end the war, but these excluded Ukraine and European countries. There are fears that the US aims to pressure Ukraine into giving up territory to Russia, a move which critics say would encourage Putin to commit further acts of aggression in the future.
Mr Merz, 69, is expected form a coalition with the centre-Left Social Democrats of outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz. He has repeatedly pledged not to work with the far-Right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, despite its second-place finish.
He put toughening Germany’s immigration laws at the forefront of the election campaign after a migrant killed two people in a knife attack in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month.
