Friedrich Merz will become Germany's next Chancellor after the conservative Christian Democratic Alliance (CDU/CSU) won the national election on Sunday, as preliminary results put the party at 28.5%. Merz is now expected to begin coalition talks with the SPD and/or the environmentalist Greens.
The other winner was the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is getting its best-ever result in a postwar national vote in Germany of 20.8%. However, AfD will not be part of the coalition as mainstream parties in Germany usually stay away from the far right. Interestingly, the AfD was endorsed by Elon Musk.
Merz wasted no time in declaring himself the winner shortly after the polls closed Sunday. Proclaiming CDU as the winner of the Bundestag election, Merz vowed to steer Europe in a radical new direction.
Friedrich Merz has claimed victory in the German election after exit polls showed his conservative CDU/CSU bloc in the lead. He also stressed the importance of forming a government soon, warning that the world "won't wait for long drawn-out coalition negotiations." pic.twitter.com/QbvY9LRa32
— DW News (@dwnews) February 23, 2025
Germany’s likely new chancellor Friedrich Merz: And for me, the absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we step by step to also truly achieve independence from the USA. I would not have believed that I would have to say something like this on… pic.twitter.com/z1z04baopq
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 23, 2025
'Independence from the US'
The highlight of Merz's first speech was, interestingly, about achieving independence from the US. "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," Germany's chancellor-in-waiting said. "I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe."
A lawyer who has spent much of his career working for American firms, Merz minced no words when he compared the US to Russia.
"So we are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now is to achieve unity in Europe. It is possible to create unity in Europe," he told a roundtable with other leaders.
Mers, during a televised debate, added that he had no illusions about what was happening in America. "Just look at the recent interventions in the German election campaign by Mr. Elon Musk — that is a unique event. The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow. We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe."
He also expressed concerns about the fate of NATO, suggesting Europe may need to devise a new defence structure to replace it. "I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June," he said. "Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly."
President Donald Trump, nevertheless, welcomed the conservative victory."Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration, that has prevailed for so many years," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
