Merz: USA "indispensable for Europe's security for a long time"

During his inaugural visit to NATO headquarters, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) emphasized the importance of the USA for European security. “America is indispensable for Europe's security today and for a long time to come,” said Merz on Friday in the presence of Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. He hoped that it would be possible to develop a “joint strategy” with Washington at the NATO summit in June, said the Chancellor.

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Merz had been very pessimistic about the future of NATO on the evening of the Bundestag elections in February. The US government was “largely indifferent to the fate of Europe”, he said at the time on the ARD program “Berliner Runde”. With a view to the NATO summit, he was curious “whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form at all”. With his statements, Merz was reacting to US Vice President JD Vance, who had previously caused outrage in Europe with comments on freedom of speech and defense spending.

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In Brussels, Merz was pleased that the attitude of the US government had “obviously changed”. Washington recognizes “that we are expanding our efforts considerably”. He was “very grateful” for the fact that he could now “come to a more optimistic assessment of the future of the NATO alliance” than in February.

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The heads of state and government of the NATO member states will meet for a summit in The Hague at the end of June. US President Donald Trump has long been demanding that the allies invest more money in their defense. His target of five percent of the respective gross domestic product (GDP) is considered unrealistic by many countries. NATO Secretary General Rutte has repeatedly spoken of significantly more than three percent.

Merz did not want to comment on "abstract" figures on Friday. "The decisive factor is that we continuously expand our efforts over the next few years," he argued. The two percent of GDP currently specified by NATO for defence spending would be "nowhere near enough to meet the requirements".