A Chancellor for the European Union

The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz strives to play a more significant leadership role in the European Union, However, it is his own methods that become the main hindrance to him.

The day after his election as German chancellor, Friedrich Merz boarded a plane to Paris, and later to Warsaw. As Thu Nguyen, acting co-director of the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, writes in her article, it was clearly a message. Merz was showing Germany to be back on the European stage and want to improve relations with its key European Union partners. However, the high hopes pinned on him were dashed.

One year later, it became obvious that Merz is incapable of leading Europe. He clearly lacks a feel for the European process and the ability to engage partners.

Already during the election campaign, Merz made his promise to lead Europe a central issue. A little over a year later, he sees it as Germany’s main task to build a stronger Europe, which for him means, above all, improving competitiveness and strengthening Europe’s defense capabilities. Only through economic and security strength, the chancellor believes, can Europe hold its own in today’s world. At the same time, he positions Germany squarely at the heart of Europe: ‘If Europe falls apart, Germany falls apart,’ Merz declared at the Munich Security Conference in February 2026.

Merz’ understanding of European cooperation is largely based on close exchanges with other heads of State and government. Particularly in security and defense policy, which is inherently intergovernmental, the chancellor relies heavily on smaller formats. The appeal of this approach is obvious: it brings together States that are ready to act and speeds up decision-making without having to wait for all 27 member States. This enables Berlin to set the agenda with like-minded countries, while at the same time involving non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom.

Merz, however, is seeking to accelerate the process not only through flexible formats but also through his own initiatives, particularly on Ukraine. Thus, in the fall of 2025 he proposed using Russian state assets frozen in the EU to finance Ukraine. This initiative was important as it aimed to secure long-term funding for aid to Ukraine without overburdening European budgets. The same applies to the German chancellor’s proposal in May 2026 to offer Ukraine associate EU membership.

While being committed to a strong Europe, Merz is deeply skeptical about the EU’s common procedures and institutions. His statement that the ‘community method’ has ‘failed’ is directed at the EU institutions, whose task he believes should not be reduced to slowing down decisions made by member States. He has little patience for his European counterparts.

An even more serious tension between the logic of efficiency and the common EU framework becomes apparent where EU law appears to Merz to hamper swift action, for example, in migration policy. To curb immigration, Germany has introduced Schengen internal border controls and started turning asylum-seekers away at the border. With its actions, Berlin is not only snubbing its European neighbors but also raising serious questions under European law. Permanent border controls are at odds with the spirit and functioning of the Schengen Area; several German courts have already ruled them inadmissible under European law.

Merz obviously wants to take on a greater leadership role in Europe, but his method is not working. Worse still, it is undermining the very foundation of the EU he claims to want to strengthen. The chancellor must find a leadership role that goes beyond the mere will to lead. Put simply, Mertz should learn to speak to his EU partners, listen to them as well as hear them. Barring this, no European allies will reach for him.

Original publication: https://ip-quarterly.com/en/leading-europe-alone