German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has called on the European Union to assert itself more confidently on the world stage, including in its relationship with the United States. Speaking in a government policy statement to the Bundestag on Wednesday, Merz made clear that Europe must stop underselling its own strength. "We no longer want to sell ourselves short," he said. "We identify our interests and at the same time identify the means of power to enforce those interests."
Merz pointed to the sheer scale of the European Union as a foundation for that confidence. The EU has 450 million inhabitants, he noted, "100 million more than in the United States of America."
In an international landscape where major powers are openly pursuing power politics, the EU must leverage its own strength, the Chancellor said. "We are learning: the others are also dependent on us, not just us on them," Merz said. "And we are learning that we can use that, yes, that we must use it." Europe must act here "in the sense of a greater self-respect," he added.
Merz painted a stark picture of the shifting global order and its direct consequences for Europe. "The world is developing into a situation that is difficult for us, an order of great powers," he said. "We feel how the actors of this new power order are influencing our lives and limiting our possibilities."
Under these conditions, he argued, a united Europe has never been more essential. "More than ever before, a united Europe is for us in Germany the only guarantee and the most important guarantee that we have for our future," Merz said. Only together, he added, would European states have "a power potential in our hands in this dawning new era."
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