Germany Takes Aim at the Debt Brake – NATO on the Brink

The nightmare will be over soon.

24 Hours to the Election. Then, a Political Earthquake.

The final stretch before an election is usually a dead zone—where politicians tread carefully, sticking to rehearsed lines, avoiding controversy, and dodging reporters. No risks. No surprises. The message is set; the die is cast. The last thing any candidate wants is to shake the apple cart when the finish line is in sight.

But Friedrich Merz isn’t one for traditions.

Just hours before Germany went to the polls, the CDU leader—front-runner and heir to a party that has long been the backbone of Europe’s transatlantic alliance—dropped a bombshell. He wasn’t hedging like Macron. He wasn’t threading the needle like Starmer. Merz was calling for a clean, decisive break from the United States.

No ifs. No buts. No middle ground.

“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.

I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.” - Freidrich Merz

It was what Merz said next that truly caught me off guard, making me wonder if this was calculated political rhetoric. He declared:

I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June. Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.