“I never thought I would say something like this”: Future German Chancellor questions the existence of NATO

Germany's likely next chancellor , Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz, questioned on election night whether NATO would remain in its current guise for long, casting doubt on comments from the US administration led by Donald Trump. At the same time, he expressed support for the rapid growth of Europe's independent defence capabilities.

“I never thought I would have to say something like this, but after Donald Trump’s comments last week… it is clear that the US administration does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Merz told German public broadcaster ARD after winning the election.

The context is the Trump administration’s statements, which shocked European allies by saying that Europe should look after its own security and rely less on the United States – but not on the procurement side – while announcing negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine without involving Europe. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europeans of “harsh strategic realities” that would prevent the US from focusing on Europe’s security.

Referring to the NATO summit scheduled for June, Merz said he was curious to see “whether we will still talk about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”

Asked about Merz’s comments, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said: “This signals that we are at the beginning of a new era. The era that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall is over,” he said, speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, adding that Europeans needed to have “realistic expectations” about their relations with the United States.

On Friday, Merz told public broadcaster ZDF that Germany had to accept the possibility that Trump would not fully comply with NATO's mutual defense pledge. That meant Berlin might need to become less dependent on the United States for its nuclear protection as well, and he called for talks with European nuclear powers France and Britain on expanding their nuclear protection.

Merz, a vocal supporter of the primacy of transatlantic relations, has been more aggressive towards Russia than outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, suggesting that under his future government Germany might be willing to send Taurus (medium-range) missiles to Kiev, something Scholz has always opposed.