EU chief Antonio Costa on Thursday hosted Germany's likely next leader Friedrich Merz for talks ahead of a key summit on bolstering Ukraine and ramping up European defence -- for which Berlin's role will be pivotal.
The first step towards Mr Merz being effective on the European stage is for him to forge a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats at home, a task expected to take several more weeks. But the agreement announced on March 4th was startling in its ambition.
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the election result a "decisive victory for our political family, for Germany and Europe." The European People's Party, the European Union's largest parliamentary group,
Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany’s ... that we shouldn’t expect a resounding common EU policy,” he said and added that it will likely “be the usual game of muddling through." Merz put toughening Germany's immigration ...
The victory of the Christian Democratic leader in the February 23 German parliamentary elections was met with relief by France, Poland and other members that support a bolder role for the European Union in tackling security and economic challenges.
Incoming German leader will hold high-stakes talks with French president as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump hover over Europe.
Another Grand Coalition may not feel like a remarkable election result in Germany. But don't be fooled — Friedrich Merz, who I have met many
Merz’s centre-right CDU emerged as the largest party in Sunday’s federal elections, winning 208 seats in the 630-seat German parliament. #EuropeNews
The European Union is getting good at adapting to unprecedented circumstances. Over the last five years, the 27 member countries have pulled together to fund the purchase of tens of millions of vaccines and devised a massive recovery fund to resuscitate economies ravaged by the pandemic.