German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that parts of the new US national security strategy unveiled last week were “unacceptable to us from a European perspective”.
“I see no need for the Americans to now want to save democracy in Europe,” Merz said after the paper accused Europe of undermining political liberty and stifling free speech.
The security strategy, meant to flesh out President Donald Trump’s “America First” worldview, said the United States will shift from its historic global role towards increasing dominance in Latin America and to fighting migration.
It harshly described Europe as being over-regulated, censorious and facing “civilisational erasure” from migration, and criticised European institutions which it said “undermine political liberty and sovereignty”.
Merz said he was “not surprised” by the content of the strategy. “Some of it is comprehensible and some of it is understandable,” he said during a visit to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The paper “confirms my assessment that we in Europe, and thus also in Germany, must become much more independent from the US in terms of security policy”, he added.
However, he also urged the United States to continue working constructively with Europe.
“In my conversations with Americans, I say: America First is fine, but America Alone cannot be in your interest. You also need partners in the world, and one of those partners can be Europe.”
US Vice President JD Vance in February dismayed Europeans with a speech in Munich claiming freedom of expression was receding on the continent, aligning himself with far-right parties such as Germany’s AfD.
Merz said later Tuesday that the new US security strategy showed that Vance’s speech “was not a slip-up, but rather the beginning of a strategic realignment of the United States.
“This affects foreign policy, security policy, economic policy, and also European policy, insofar as it exists.”
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