German election sees conservative Friedrich Merz win
The German election has seen the conservative Friedrich Merz win for CDU/CSU, with 28.52% of the vote. This makes him poised to become Germany’s next Chancellor. Merz has already signaled his aim for Europe to boost its defences to secure independence from the US
Merz heads the party CDU/CSU, a Union party between the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.
The election also saw an unprecedented second-place result of the far-right group ‘Alternative for Germany’, winning 20.8%, the biggest far-right vote in Germany since World War Two.
Voter turnout was the highest it has been in 30 years, at 84%.
Speaking at a post-election debate, the newly-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz outlined his priority of European unity.
“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show but, after Donald Trump’s remarks last week… it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe”
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA” “We are under such massive pressure from two sides [Russia and the USA] that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe”.
