European leaders have since grown increasingly worried that they can no longer rely on the U.S. and the NATO collective defense clause that have provided the foundation for Europe’s security since the Cold War.
Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and in first place in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s vote, said that Europe should collectively brace itself for the possibility that the Trump administration might not uphold NATO’s Article 5 committing alliance members to collective defense.
When asked whether he believes Trump will uphold the clause, Merz said: “I wouldn’t bet everything I have on any question I’m asked, and certainly not on this one.”
Asked whether Germany should seek protection under France’s nuclear umbrella, Merz acknowledged that French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly extended such an offer to Berlin — only for previous German governments to leave the question unanswered.
“We need to have discussions with both the British and the French — the two European nuclear powers — about whether nuclear sharing, or at least nuclear security from the U.K. and France, could also apply to us,” he said.
Nette Nöstlinger contributed reporting.
