Europe may need its own military alliance, independent of U.S. — German Chancellor candidate

This is reported by Radio Liberty.

Merz expressed doubts about NATO’s ability to remain in its current form. He emphasized that Germany can no longer rely on the protection of the American “nuclear umbrella,” and therefore, negotiations should begin with the United Kingdom and France to expand their nuclear support for other European countries. At the same time, he stressed that Germany must take more active steps to strengthen its own armed forces.

His statement came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he saw no prospects for Ukraine joining NATO and did not consider Russia a threat to the Alliance’s member states. It also followed a speech by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference, where he criticized the Democrats’ stance on supporting European allies.

Merz emphasized that good relations with the U.S. are beneficial for America itself and expressed hope that he could convince the new American leadership of this.

• On Saturday, February 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, stated that the time had come to create the European Armed Forces.