Merz on tour: Second Chancellor’s trip: Big expectations of Merz in Brussels

Three days after taking office, the new Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) left for his second trip abroad to Brussels. There he wants to meet NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte as well as with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of Councilor António Costa and Parliament President Roberta Metsola the three top representatives of the EU. Merz had already completed his first inaugural visits in Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday.

Merz sees great expectations in Europe

When signing the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD, the CDU boss had announced that it would be able to hear Germany’s “voice in Europe and in the world” again. “Large parts of Europe, the European Union always, they are waiting for us to make a powerful contribution to the success of the European project again.”

As an opposition leader, Merz had accused his predecessor Olaf Scholz (SPD) passivity in European policy and promised to end Germany’s “European political speechlessness”. In close cooperation with the neighboring countries of France and Poland, he wants to strengthen European sovereignty and thus react to the United States’ foreign policy change under President Donald Trump.

Merz wants to put an end to “German Vote”

The expectations in Brussels are high. In recent years, it has been repeatedly criticized that the Scholz traffic light coalition often took a long time to position itself for important projects such as the reform of the European asylum system. Even greater lack of understanding if there was no agreement in Berlin between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP and Germany therefore abstained in the event of EU votes-for example in the EU supply chain chain law.

“German Vote” was called ironic and a little derogatory in Brussels. Merz promised to end with it. With the long-standing German EU ambassador Michael Clauß, he brought a man to the Chancellery as a European policy consultant, who knows the Brussels perspective very precisely.

A number of probation samples for new team Germany

However, there are a number of probation samples for the new team in Germany. For example, Merz wants to make Germany a driving force in Europe again. It is considered to be extremely questionable whether a government with the Union parties, of all things, could be willing to agree to the recording of new joint EU debts for defense projects by France and other countries.

The decision of the new federal government is also causing great discussions to take additional border controls and rejections from asylum seekers against unwanted migration. From the point of view of critics, such a procedure is probably not compatible with EU law and also a danger to the actually border control-free EU internal market. However, there was also approval for the planned change of course in German asylum policy, for example from the government of Austria.

It is also eagerly awaited how the Federal Government positions itself in the customs conflict with the USA and the upcoming negotiations on the next long-term EU budget. On both topics, the question arises as to whether the entire EU is considered more important solutions than the interests of influential German federal states or industrial branches.

Ukraine and defense ability with NATO topic

NATO will be about the Russian attack war against Ukraine and the defense capacity of the alliance in the face of the Russian threat. In June, the first NATO summit with Trump will take place in the Haag after taking office in January.

On the eve of his trip to Brussels, Merz telephoned with Trump. The Ukraine War was the main topic. The two of them had agreed close cooperation with the aim of termination of the Russian war of aggression, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius then said.

As for a possible peace solution, there is considerable differences between the USA and the European allies. While Trump urges Ukraine to concessions to Russia, countries such as Germany, France and Great Britain warn of a dictation peace.