"International order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed," said the German Chancellor.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a revival of the U.S.-European relationship, warning Washington against going solo on the world stage. “In the era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone,

European leaders braced for a combative Munich Security Conference on Friday, with Germany’s Friedrich Merz noting starkly that the international world order “no longer exists” – one of the few points of agreement between the fractious allies in the transatlantic alliance.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a "rift" has opened between the United States and Europe and that a new trans-Atlantic partnership must be built. Merz drew a sharp distinction between the

EADaily, February 14th, 2026. There was no rules—based order - there was a post-war world order based on international law until NATO began to break it. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has no hard feelings that he was swiped away by calling luge gold medallist Max Langenhan at the Winter Olympics when he tried to congratulate him. "That is quite a story but I took it with a lot of humour.

Merz also drew a lesson from Germany’s own history. “We Germans know a world in which might makes right would be a dark place,” he said. “Our country has gone down this path in the 20th century until the bitter and dreadful end.”

At the Munich Security Conference, U.S. officials softened their tone but not their message: Europe should pay its own way. European leaders increasingly agree.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’s in talks with France over potential European nuclear defense as he made a call to reorder the transatlantic relationship amid the turmoil of Donald Trump’s second term.