Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, questioned on Sunday whether NATO would remain in its “current form” by June in light of the comments by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show. But after Donald Trump’s remarks last week, … it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Merz told German public broadcaster ARD after his conservatives won a national election.
Last week, the Trump administration shocked European allies by telling them they must take care of their own security and rely less on the United States, while announcing talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine without involving Europe.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Europeans “stark strategic realities” would prevent the U.S. from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.
Referring to a NATO summit scheduled for June, Merz said he was curious to see “whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form then or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”
On Friday, Merz told public broadcaster ZDF that Germany would need to come to terms with the possibility that Trump might not stick with NATO’s mutual-defense pledge unrestrictedly.