#FRIEDRICH MERZ

Jointly, the parties control 328 seats in the 630 Bundestag.

As alarm rises following recent shifts in American foreign policy, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, has questioned the future of NATO amid mounting speculation that he will seek to secure a nuclear protection agreement with Britain and France.

The candidate of Germany’s center-right conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) for the post of chancellor criticized the U.S. president’s imposition of high tariffs against goods from Canada, Mexico, and China.

Germany should send its military to serve as peacekeepers in Ukraine, a prominent MP of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union opposition party said.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz, favored to succeed Olaf Scholz as chancellor, told German news agency dpa he would support a new attempt at talks on a free trade deal with the United States in response to tougher trade conditions.

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz has called on the country’s chancellor to get involved in the formation of a “contact group” of five countries including Poland, to prepare for the incoming United States president’s expected policy change on Ukraine.

Germany’s chancellor has said he is against weapons provided by Berlin being used to strike into Russian territory.

Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s main opposition party and a potential future chancellor, has told the Bundestag that Berlin should give Moscow 24 hours to stop attacking civilian targets or Germany will provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles.