"The world will not wait for us. We must now rapidly regain our ability to act," emphasized CDU leader Friedrich Merz on the eve of his election victory. Likely to be the next German chancellor, Merz already has an ambitious timetable: he wants to form a new federal government by Easter, if possible — by mid-April, "So that we are once again present in Europe, and internationally: Germany will be reliably governed again."

And there are high expectations of Germany — Merz has learned this from many discussions he has held with politicians from friendly countries in recent weeks. Germany is always asked to show commitment and take its own initiatives when it comes to the topics of supporting Ukraine, Europe's defense capabilities and trans-Atlantic relations.

That has been especially true since Donald Trump reentered the White House last month, already severely damaging the trans-Atlantic relationship during his first weeks in office.

With respect to Ukraine policy, Trump has so far rejected a common course with Europe. Washington has been negotiating an end to the war directly with Moscow —expressly without the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump has disparaged as a "dictator."

After the US president's latest statements, Merz told the German TV show "Berliner Runde" on election night that "the Americans — at least this part of the Americans, this administration — are largely indifferent to Europe's fate." An absolute priority for Merz is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, "so we can really achieve independence from the US, step by step," he........

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