Germany will soon have “the most powerful conventional army in Europe”. This was promised by the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, explaining that the goal will be achieved thanks to the hundreds of billions of euros of investments allocated by his government. “Strengthening the Bundeswehr is our maximum priority,” said the Christianodemocratic leader speaking to the Bundestag.
Strengthening the German army, for a long time, is “what the most populous and powerful country in Europe is expected. Our friends and partners are also expected of us. Indeed, they pretend it practically”.
Ukraine
In his first important intervention to Parliament since he assumed the assignment, Merz urged the West not to divide the war into Ukraine. An imposed peace or a submission to the status quo reached by the Russian forces is, according to him, “unacceptable”.
“We hope and are working hard to ensure that this clear position is not supported only in Europe, but also by our American partners,” added the chancellor, promising a more central role for Berlin on the international scene.
After the electoral victory of February, Merz has repeatedly criticized the administration of the American president Donald Trump, calling it an unreliable ally. In the speech of Wednesday 14 May he insisted: it is “of fundamental importance that the political West does not let itself be divided”.
Last weekend Merz went to Kiev together with his homologues in France, the United Kingdom and Poland, launching an ultimatum in Moscow: new penalties coming if there is no ceased for 30 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin instead asked for direct interviews with Ukraine in Istanbul, an appeal immediately supported by Trump, who thus vanified – at least in part – the European efforts to show a compact front with Washington.
Relaunch the economy
On the internal front, the coalition of conservatives and social democrats led by Merz promised cuts to bureaucracy, energy prices and taxes on businesses, in an ambitious attempt to relaunch economic growth. Germany “can return to being an economic locomotive admired from the world”, said the chancellor, ensuring that he will do “everything possible” to find “the growth of growth” after two consecutive years of recession.
Even before the new parliament came into office, the new coalition had managed to approve the outgoing one a constitutional reform to eliminate most of the military expenditure from the brake to debt and give the green light to the creation of a special fund of 500 billion euros for infrastructures.
