The first appointment of Friedrich Merz in the aftermath of his confirmation as a German chancellor is in Paris, where he met French president Emmanuel Macron, the main European partner of Germany.
Today’s face to face with the Head of the Elysée is the first step in strengthening the Franco -tesque engine, weakening of the misunderstandings between Macron and the former head of the Bundestag Olaf Scholz. But above all it is a meeting that aims to bring Berlin back to the center of the European scene, now overshadowed by the interventionism pushed of the Head of the Elysée on military and diplomatic support to Ukraine. Just in Macron you have to recognize the launch of the coalition of the will with the British premier Keir Starmer.
“We want the USA to remain engaged to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine”
At the center of the talks between the two leaders there was obviously the war in Ukraine. The invasion launched by Russia mainly concerns Europe, its security, its democracies, its ability to react united and defend itself, today the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said in an appeal that has evidently reached Paris. Merz has affirmed his will to relaunch the Franco -tesque ace to “systematically systematically” build the action of the two countries and to “respond together with the challenges that Europe is facing”.
The proposal was then relaunched by Macron. “We will set up a Francoatedish advice of defense and security that will meet regularly to provide operational responses to our common strategic challenges,” said the French president to the press after the talks with the new chancellor. The reference obviously goes to the threatening strategic and military policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also to the uncertainty of the financial markets after the commercial war launched by the tenant of the White House Donald Trump.
Merz has confirmed his intention to visit Kiev in the coming weeks, underlining the search for a ceased fire and a peace agreement with Russia as a cease. While remaining cautious about the direct commitment of troops in Ukraine, the new chancellor has relaunched the role of Germany and France in offering guarantees of security to the country invaded by Russia once a lasting peace has been achieved. A passage that, however, underlined the new German chancellor, can only be reached with a stronger commitment from the United States.
“All EU countries must increase defense expenditure”
Merz’s appeal aimed at the leaders of the 27 European countries to increase the expense for the defense has made a break in the heart of Macron. “Only in this way can we gradually fill our gaps in terms of ability and collectively support Ukraine,” said the new German chancellor.
At home, Merz wants to loosen the rigid German tax rules, to increase defense expenditure. Expenditure that would reach over 60 billion euros per year starting from 2025. At least this is the plan on which the German defense minister Boris Pistorius is working, according to reports from two anonymous sources to Reuters. Last year the defense budget amounted to 52 billion euros, to which 20 billion came from a special fund of 100 billion euros created in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This “treasure” aims to put the German military apparatus, long neglected for a long time, but which will be ready by 2028. In 2024, the German Ministry of Defense had difficulty achieving the NATO goal of 2 percent of military spending compared to national production due to a slow provision of the funds.
During the meeting with the Head of the Elysée, the new chancellor also entered the merits of Macron’s project to broaden the nuclear umbrella to the rest of Europe: a topic on which the chancellor wants to probe moods both in Paris and in London. “We will send our respective ministers to start the discussion,” said Merz, specifying that this comparison wants to be complement to what is already in place with American partners in the context of NATO.
