German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) on Saturday stressed Europe’s strategic importance, saying that the future of the world is being shaped in Europe.
Speaking to the German youth at the Young Union (Junge Union)’s Germany Day conference in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Merz said this was not just about the European Union but the principles guiding the coexistence of people on the continent.
“The future of the world is created in Europe” said Merz. “I would like to finalise this thought with you. What does that mean? We are not just looking at ourselves. We are not just looking at the European Union. We are looking at a political model. We are looking at a principle. We are looking at fundamental decisions on how we want to live together.”
Merz, however, stressed that the principles guiding the European Union model are not extinct amidst the growing challenge of authoritarian leadership.
In this European Union, we are distancing ourselves from dogmatic socialism and communism, from compartmentalised markets, and—according to Merz—”from an authoritarian style of leadership.”
“If we don’t get it right now, if we leave it to the nationalists to shape this Europe and basically abandon it, then one day we will have to be told that we have failed history.”
This European Union also distances itself from all those “who believe that they can guarantee the security and prosperity of their own people with closed markets.”
Merz also declared war on bureaucratisation: “That is precisely why I am so committed to keeping this European Union together. Not the way it works now, not with this over-bureaucratisation. This is not how the European single market was intended: a flood of regulations that basically only expresses mistrust towards citizens and companies.”
It is not mistrust that is the organising principle of European politics, emphasised Merz; it must be “trust, in freedom, in openness, in the ability of people to shape their future on their own responsibility in a liberal, tolerant and cosmopolitan way.”
Merz and Young Union disagree over pension reform
The Young Union congress, where Merz spoke Saturday, has long been a power base for the German chancellor.
But the young wing of the chancellor’s party gave some opposition to the chancellor on the proposed pension ıslahat that’s presently being considered by parliament.
“This pension package, with its additional costs of €120 billion ($139 billion) beyond what was agreed in the coalition agreement, must not be allowed to happen under any circumstances,” said Johannes Winkel, the head of the conservative youth group Junge Union, during the conference.
Merz, 70, said he supported the law even though he shared some of the young conservatives’ worries. According to Merz, he must also consider the needs of the elderly as chancellor and leader of the CDU party.
During a contentious debate, he reminded the delegates, “I have to ensure that we remain structurally capable of winning a majority in the Federal Republic of Germany.” “A Federal Chancellor’s job is to balance the interests.”
Meanwhile, the German chancellor emphasised that there would be no cooperation between his CDU party and the far-right AfD. “Not because there is a firewall—forget that word! We are worlds apart from this party,” he explained. “We have nothing in common with them,” he said.
Quoted from Euronews.
