German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said on Wednesday that Germany is not currently “defence‑capable”. He told a parliamentary government session that a country can only be strong in Europe and assert its interests abroad if it is strong at home. “Being strong in these times means having a prosperous economy, safeguarding existing jobs and creating new ones-while also becoming defence‑capable” Merz said, deliberately using “becoming” because “we are no longer”.
He emphasized that aligning all efforts toward this goal is the government’s most important task in the current challenging times. Merz explained that the problems Germany faces are not insurmountable. “Most of the issues we have today are self‑made, the result of our own actions, and therefore it is, and especially it is, up to us to make them smaller again and to aim for their swift disappearance”.