Incoming German chancellor warns of powerful threats to Europe

Incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned on Monday that Europe is threatened by the Russian war in Ukraine and that citizens’ confidence in democracy is being shaken, boosting the popularity of the far right.

“Europe is threatened from without by an imperialist and authoritarian war in the East, and also from within by frightened, confused, and even extremist citizens,” the conservative leader said in a speech at a conference of his Christian Democratic Union party.

He added, “Confidence in our democracy has not been shaken to this degree in our country since the end of World War II”.

On the foreign front, Friedrich Merz urged his citizens to continue supporting Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s struggle in the Russian war is also a struggle to preserve peace and freedom in our country,” he said, because Moscow’s attack, “affects the political system of the European continent as a whole”.

Delegates from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are expected to give the green light to a coalition agreement with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to form the new German government after the general election at the end of February.

Friedrich Merz, who is scheduled to take office on May 6 once elected by the Bundestag, said the agreement would be the basis for forming a “stable and functioning government”.

But before that, there is one final hurdle: a vote by Social Democratic Party members on the government formation agreement, scheduled for Tuesday.

Merz said that if the Social Democratic Party members and a majority of parliament members approve the new government, “we can finally begin to solve our country’s problems, step by step”.