Merz Says U.S.-Germany Security Partnership Is Shifting, Urges Europe to Do More

Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in his first New Year’s Eve address since taking office, warned that Germany’s eight-decade security partnership with the United States “is changing.” Merz said the shift means Europeans “must defend and assert our interests much more strongly by ourselves,” though he did not specify precisely how the relationship is changing or why.

His comments followed signals from the Trump administration and a new U.S. national security strategy calling for European nations to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense and urging alignment with “patriotic European parties,” language the Times reported as aimed at Europe’s far right.

Merz framed the change as part of a broader deterioration in international norms and a rising security threat from Russia, saying Russia’s aggression “was and is part of a plan targeted against the whole of Europe” and that Germany faces “sabotage, espionage and cyberattacks on a daily basis.” The chancellor used the speech to prepare Germans for increased security risks and outline recent steps: removing constitutional limits on military spending and launching an effort to boost the number of soldiers by nearly 50 percent over the next decade.

He sought to reassure the public: “We are not the victims of extraneous circumstances. We are not at the mercy of great powers. Our hands are not tied,” and argued Germany can weather the upheaval and reinvent itself.

Key Topics

World, United States, Germany, Us-germany, Defense, Europe, Russia