Friedrich Merz, the German conservative candidate for chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader, speaks at a press conference following the general election in Berlin, Germany, on February 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Germany’s conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said on Monday (February 24, 2025) he would seek talks with the centre-left to speedily build a government as Europe faces tectonic changes in transatlantic ties.
The Christian Democrats’ (CDU) leader said he would reach out to the Social Democrats (SPD) of vanquished Chancellor Olaf Scholz with hopes of forging a stable ruling alliance of the two traditional big-tent parties.
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After the surge of the far-right AfD, Mr. Merz said the mainstream parties must answer concerns of voters drifting to the fringes, calling the AfD’s record 20% result “the last warning to the political parties of the democratic centre in Germany”.
Mr. Merz, 69, has said he wants a ruling coalition in place within two months so Berlin can act again on the European and world stage after months of paralysis since Scholz’s coalition imploded in early November.
Mr. Merz, a committed trans-Atlanticist, said Monday he would seek good ties with the United States under Donald Trump but was also ready for “the worst-case scenario”.
“All the signals we are receiving from the United States indicate that interest in Europe is decreasing,” he told a post-election press conference in Berlin.
Mr. Merz also said he had a “lengthy” call with Emmanuel Macron late Sunday, as the French president headed to Washington to meet with Mr. Trump.
“We discussed the topics he wants to address with the American president, and I found that there was complete agreement between what he wants to say and what I want to say”, Mr. Merz said.
As the Ukraine war grinds on into a fourth year, Mr. Merz also pledged continued support for Kyiv, where other European leaders were meeting for the anniversary.
In Sunday’s election, Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc handily defeated Scholz’s SPD, which scored a historic low of 16%, and the Greens, who won 11%.
Published – February 24, 2025 10:04 pm IST