The Munich security conference started with a bang today. Breaking with tradition, German chancellor Friedrich Merz opened the conference with a punchy speech about relations between Europe and America. ‘A rift, a deep chasm, has opened up between Europe and the United States,’ he declared.

‘We need to talk,’ Merz said. ‘This is more urgent than ever.’ Proclaiming that the world had entered an era of ‘big power politics’, he painted a particularly bleak picture of global affairs. ‘The international order, as it was in its heyday, no longer exists,’ he said. 

Merz called on the allies of Ukraine to do more to put pressure on Russia to end its invasion. He argued that Europe could go harder and faster: ‘Russia’s GDP is €2 trillion. That of the EU is almost ten times as high,’ he said. ‘But Europe is not ten times as strong as Russia today.’ He renewed his pledge to make Germany’s armed forces the ‘strongest conventional army in Europe as soon as we can’, hinting that he was prepared to consider conscription for the army should the country’s voluntary military service model – introduced just last month – fail to yield the number of recruits needed to expand the Bundeswehr.

Many European delegations here have a touch of America-induced PTSD

Many European delegations here have a touch of America-induced PTSD

In the Q&A that........

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