Berlin - Friedrich Merz made his global event debut on Wednesday as Germany’s new prime minister and plans to work immediately with allies France and Poland to support the European United Front in support of Ukraine and against U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron’s new pairing, both firm believers in the EU, could help gangs from 27 countries resist pressure from Trump and Russia in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
With the EU's largest economy and population, Germany and France have long supported the group of 27 countries, but have lost some vitality in recent months as leaders of both countries are trapped in a struggle for domestic problems.
Merz and Macron hope to give new relations at a critical moment, with both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin putting pressure on the EU to rethink its security.
Myers' trip was the second day of the historic defeat of the German Parliament in the first round of votes. No other German Chancellor candidate failed to win the first vote after the war. He won the second round.
Traditionally, the newly elected German Chancellor visited large neighbors in the West and East on the first day of his office to emphasize European solidarity. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said this week that Merz and Macron hope their meeting will redefine what he calls "French-German cars."
The French minister said he expected the relationship between Paris and Berlin to be simpler than his predecessor. In particular, in the face of Russia's threat to European security, France is seeking support from Germany to increase EU defense spending and fearing that Trump is deviating from his post-World War II transatlantic relations with Europe to concentrate resources against China.
Meles is expected to hold a press conference with Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday.
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer respectively chaired a summit of European leaders to discuss Trump's move to cut the mainland of Russia-Ukraine negotiations, and discussed security in Ukraine and Europe.
The stops in Paris and Warsaw took place on the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender in World War II. Macron's meeting with his third German Chancellor as French president will be particularly symbolic for the nation of painful enemies in World War I and World War II.
The first war ended with an armistice signed in a railway vehicle north of Paris. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler then accepted French surrender in 1940 using the same railway car, after his defense surrendered to the German invasion.
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John Leicester reported from Paris. Kirsten Grieshaber contributed to the Berlin report.