The rules-based world order “no longer exists”, the German Chancellor has warned at a major security summit.
Opening the annual Munich Security Conference, Friedrich Merz told other world leaders that “our freedom is not guaranteed” in an era of big power politics, and that Europeans must be ready to make “sacrifice”.
He also admitted that “a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States”.
The conference is taking place on the backdrop of US President Donald Trump threatening Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland by pledging to annex the Arctic territory and his tariffs on imports from European nations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was listening to Merz and will deliver his own speech on Saturday, earlier spoke of a “new era in geopolitics”.
Some 50 world leaders are expected to attend this year’s conference, where European defence and the future of the transatlantic relationship will be discussed.
It comes at a time when US commitments to the Nato military alliance have been called into question. Trump’s ambition to acquire Greenland has also been viewed by many European leaders as a watershed moment that has eroded trust with their biggest ally.
Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday: “Greenland’s gonna want us… We get along very well with Europe. We’ll see how it works out. We’re negotiating right now for Greenland.”
The Russia-Ukraine war, tensions between the West and China, as well as a potential Iran-US nuclear deal are also on the agenda at the annual gathering.
Referring to multiple warnings that the rules-based order was collapsing, Merz told the conference: “I fear we must put it even more bluntly: this order, however imperfect it was even at its best, no longer exists in that form.”
He also said that “a rift, a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States. Vice-President JD Vance said this very openly here in Munich a year ago”.
Merz continued: “He was right. The culture war of the Maga [Make America Great Again] movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade.”
