MUNICH: Germany’s conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz pledged a stronger role for Berlin in the EU and muscular support for Ukraine as he outlined his foreign policy vision at the Munich Security Conference.

In what German media dubbed Merz’s “diplomatic speed-dating”, the CDU leader hoping to be the next chancellor, joined speaking panels and met a long list of international policy-makers at the annual event.

Merz, 69, is a committed European and trans-Atlanticist who has argued the EU must be united to deal confidently with US President Donald Trump, whom he has labelled “predictably unpredictable”.

He may soon get to try his theories in practice if the polls are right, giving him a strong lead over centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of elections a little over a week away.

In talks with global leaders at the conference, Merz said he was “hearing very often... that there is obviously a lack of German leadership within the European Union”.

“I fully agree with all those who are demanding more leadership from Germany and frankly I’m willing to do that because I’m seeing that Germany is in a strategic position in the centre of Europe,” Merz said from the main stage.

In chancellor mode

Merz’s agenda for the conference, which attracts high-level guests from around the globe, was packed out “like a chancellor’s”, German daily Bild said. On social media, Merz posted pictures of himself already in chancellor mode, shaking hands with Nato chief Mark Rutte, EU foreign policy boss Kaja Kallas and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

German weekly Der Spiegel said that while Merz was engaged in “diplomatic speed-dating” to prepare the ground for his exp­e­cted turn of office, Scholz looked like a “lame duck”.

Unlike Scholz, who was seemingly snubbed by Vice President JD Vance during the conference — having met him earlier in the week in Paris — Merz was gran­ted an audience with the number two man to Trump.

They agreed the Ukraine war must “end as soon as possible”, Merz said afterwards, adding that he had impressed upon Vance the need for “close coordination between America and Europe”.

However, after Vance then delivered a blistering attack on the EU and its policies on immigration and free speech that stunned many, Merz said the intervention was an “overreach”.

Merz was welcomed by others at the conference as if the outcome of the February vote was a foregone conclusion. The moderator of a panel with Merz and political leaders from Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic mistakenly introduced the candidate as “chancellor” before correcting herself.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2025