The first step towards Mr Merz being effective on the European stage is for him to forge a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats at home, a task expected to take several more weeks. But the agreement announced on March 4th was startling in its ambition.

EU chief Antonio Costa on Thursday hosted Germany's likely next leader Friedrich Merz for talks ahead of a key summit on bolstering Ukraine and ramping up European defence -- for which Berlin's role will be pivotal.

Merz’s Conservative CDU emerged as the largest party in Sunday’s federal elections, winning 208 seats in the 630-seat German parliament. View on euronews

Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany’s ... that we shouldn’t expect a resounding common EU policy,” he said and added that it will likely “be the usual game of muddling through." Merz put toughening Germany's immigration ...

Another Grand Coalition may not feel like a remarkable election result in Germany. But don't be fooled — Friedrich Merz, who I have met many

The victory of the Christian Democratic leader in the February 23 German parliamentary elections was met with relief by France, Poland and other members that support a bolder role for the European Union in tackling security and economic challenges.

Incoming German leader will hold high-stakes talks with French president as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump hover over Europe.

The European Union is getting good at adapting to unprecedented circumstances. Over the last five years, the 27 member countries have pulled together to fund the purchase of tens of millions of vaccines and devised a massive recovery fund to resuscitate economies ravaged by the pandemic.

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election.

Compared to last October, the vote for the CDU/CSU is down slightly vis a vis the polls, the AfD have not rallied as much as their admirers would have believed.