Germany’s Merz criticizes US leadership, says global order is "lost"

In Munich, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned world leaders that U.S. leadership can no longer be taken for granted and that Europe must prepare to stand more independently.

“The leadership claim of the U.S. is being challenged, perhaps already lost,” Merz said during the opening of the Munich Security Conference, laying out the starkest assessment yet from Berlin of a world increasingly defined by great-power rivalry. “In the era of great powers, our freedom is no longer simply guaranteed. It is under threat,” News.Az reports, citing Politico.

He argued the global system itself may already have collapsed. “The international order based on rights and rules … no longer exists in the way it once did,” he said.

Merz also drew a lesson from Germany’s own history. “We Germans know a world in which might makes right would be a dark place,” he said. “Our country has gone down this path in the 20th century until the bitter and dreadful end.”

Most strikingly, the chancellor confirmed discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron about a European nuclear deterrent.

The speech amounted to a strategic repositioning of Germany: still anchored in NATO, but preparing for a future in which American guarantees are less reliable and Europe must carry more responsibility.

That message echoed remarks earlier in Munich from U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby, who called for a “NATO 3.0” in which European allies assume a far greater share of defense burdens while Washington prioritizes other theaters.

The United States wants “vigorous, capable, more self-reliant European allies,” Colby said, adding America had long carried a “vastly disproportionate share” of the burden. He singled out Germany for special praise for its “historic, tremendous shift” in defense spending.

Merz signaled Berlin is already preparing for a scenario with a smaller American footprint in Europe, and that Germany may at times diverge from the U.S. “We Europeans are taking precautions. In doing so, we arrive at different conclusions than the administration in Washington,” he said.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli