On Wednesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) told the Bundestag that Germany is presently not “defensible”.
He said, “Germany is only strong in Europe and only then able to pursue its interests worldwide when it is strong itself”. Merz added that being strong in these times means sustaining a prosperous economy, safeguarding current jobs and creating new ones, while simultaneously becoming defensible. He stressed “to become” rather than “to be” because the country is no longer defensible.
“Aligning all efforts toward this goal is the most important task of the federal government in these challenging times” Merz emphasized. He noted that the problems are not insurmountable: “Most of the difficulties we face today are self‑made, caused by ourselves. Therefore it is up to us-especially-to ensure that they shrink again and ultimately disappear”.
