Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is working with major European partner countries to ensure the success of the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara. A successful outcome of the summit, Merz said Wednesday evening at a meeting with heads of state and government from the so-called E5 group in Berlin, "serves our security in dangerous times." The five partner countries reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and emphasised their readiness to strengthen the European pillar within NATO.
Merz received French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Chancellery. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who was due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, participated in the working session via video link. Merz said he intended to brief US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the outcomes of the E5 consultations.
With the Berlin meeting, the E5 states wanted to send "five messages," the Chancellor said. "First: Together we stand for a NATO that is strong and united in preserving security across the Euro-Atlantic area, in the interests of all Allies." Second, they wanted to "renew" the alliance, strengthen its European pillar, and invest massively in their own defence. Third, the E5 states wanted the meeting to underline that NATO cooperates closely on defence matters.
"National go-it-alone approaches in our defence policy would be the wrong path," said the Chancellor. "We want more cooperation, transatlantic and European." For Germany, this integration stems "from our history, our geography, and our Basic Law," said Merz. "Our neighbours should feel more secure when Germany grows stronger. That is why we want to anchor Germany, its armed forces, and its defence industry firmly within the Alliance and within Europe."
Fourth, the NATO summit should, in the E5's view, "send a strong signal of support for Ukraine," said Merz. "The Federal Government proposes that we give Kyiv, as a European NATO ally, a strong financial commitment. The message to Russia is: Ukraine remains strong." Moscow must draw conclusions from this: "It is time to enter into peace talks."
"On the transatlantic front, we are more aligned than we have been in a long time," said Merz, pointing to the show of solidarity between Europe and the US at the G7 summit the previous week. Macron echoed the sentiment. "For the first time in 18 months, all G7 members have jointly signed the same text, and the Americans have declared alongside us that they support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine," the French President said.
Tusk emphasised, in the context of recent tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv over a dispute concerning World War history, that Poland continues to stand firmly by Ukraine. "Despite the emotions (…) we stand up for Ukraine in this confrontation with Russia," the Polish Prime Minister said.
The fifth message from the Berlin meeting, Merz said, was the joint position of the European partners on the framework agreement to end the war with Iran. "We welcome the fact that the United States and Iran have agreed on a framework agreement," said Merz. The follow-up negotiations in Switzerland would be supported by the E5 states.
At the Chancellery meeting, Merz and the other heads of state and government praised the work of outgoing British Prime Minister Starmer. "You have done a great deal for a very strong NATO and a united Europe," Merz told him. Macron highlighted that Starmer had contributed much "to strengthening the role of the United Kingdom in Europe and in NATO." Tusk, addressing Starmer directly, said: "Thanks to your work, one could for a while forget Brexit."
The NATO summit takes place on 7 and 8 July in the Turkish capital Ankara. The heads of state and government of all 32 NATO member states are expected to attend.
Relations between the US and its allies have been strained for some time. Washington has long pushed, particularly loudly since Trump's inauguration in January 2025, for European NATO members to take on greater responsibility for defending Alliance territory. The US has announced plans to reduce its troop presence in Europe in this context.
Trump has also accused European NATO partners, including Germany, of failing to provide adequate support to the US during the Iran war, and has repeatedly threatened not to defend them in an emergency. Rutte, known as the "Trump Whisperer," is expected in Washington to smooth things over ahead of the summit.
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