Centre-right ÖVP's Christian Stocker sworn in as new Austrian chancellor
Christian Stocker was sworn in as Austria's new chancellor on Monday, heading a three-party coalition government formed five months after last year's election.
Stocker's centre-right People's Party (ÖVP), the centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos clinched a deal last week after their first attempt to form a coalition failed in January.
Grassroots members of the Neos voted overwhelmingly in favour of the coalition agreement with the two other parties on Sunday, removing the last obstacle for the three to take office.
The SPÖ's leader Andreas Babler has been sworn in as vice-chancellor.
'Good things come to those who wait,' Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen joked at the ceremony as he swore in the new government, referencing the five months coalition negotiations had taken — the longest in the country's history.
Stocker, 64, has never served in a national government, and his name was not originally on the ballot when Austrians headed to the polls last September.
He took over the role of ÖVP's head from former chancellor Karl Nehammer, who resigned in January when initial negotiations between the three parties broke down.
A former lawyer, Stocker has been a member of Austrian parliament since 2019 and served as general secretary of the party from September 2022 until he replaced Nehammer.
The country's new chancellor said he didn't even expect to be made leader of the ÖVP when Nehammer resigned.
"The day the decision was taken, I drove to Vienna in jeans and a roll-neck jumper," Stocker told Austrian daily Die Presse.
"A few hours later, I had to ask for a suit and tie to be brought to me," he revealed.
Stocker has expressed his commitment to the European Union and is critical of Russia — policies that clashed with the leader of the far-right Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ), Hebert Kickl, who came first in the election with 28% of the vote.
After Kickl's own negotiations to form a coalition with the ÖVP fell apart, the controversial winner of the election now remains locked in opposition.
Stocker will head the Alpine country's first three-party coalition since the later 1940s.
The coalition agreement, unveiled last week, includes introducing stricter measures for asylum seekers, revising tenancy laws and implementing planned benefits cuts.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
5 days ago
- Euronews
How to survive a visit to the Oval Office: A guide for leaders
The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday delayed voting on a report evaluating North Macedonia's progress towards accession to the EU. The report was set to be voted on alongside files for other countries vying for EU membership. While the reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Georgia were adopted, North Macedonia's was blocked due to a last-minute disagreement among political groups. The MEP responsible for writing the report, Austrian Thomas Waitz from the Greens/EFA group, announced the decision to delay the vote following a request from the European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament. The EPP withdrew its support the day before the scheduled vote, after initially agreeing to its content, sources from the Parliament told Euronews. This left the report without the required majority for approval and left Waitz with no option but to request a postponement. The EPP's change of mind was pushed by its Bulgarian members, who managed to rally the entire group. 'The report mentions the 'recognition of Macedonian identity and language', which could lead to misunderstanding and wrong interpretation. We want more clarity on this point,' EPP MEP Andrey Kovatchev told Euronews. Kovatchev's party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, is at odds with recent remarks made by North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski about the report. 'He stated that this report refers to 'centuries-old Macedonian identity and the unique Macedonian language', which we dispute. Although this is not written in the report, we need more clarity on this point.' The identity dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria has long been an obstacle on Skopje's path to joining the EU. Essentially, the Bulgarian government believes that North Macedonia's language shares common roots with Bulgarian, a claim North Macedonians reject. In 2022, the EU included Bulgaria's demands in the conclusions related to North Macedonia's accession, to overcome Sofia's veto on the talks. To move forward with negotiations, North Macedonia was required to amend its Constitution to include the Bulgarian minority—something that has yet to be finalized. While North Macedonia now has 'an excellent and ambitious reform agenda' and 'demonstrates commitment to EU integration and alignment with EU policies', according to the draft report, identity and language remain contentious issues in bilateral relations with Bulgaria. 'Some Bulgarian MEPs have taken this accession progress report hostage for their domestic nationalistic agenda,' Waitz said in a statement to Euronews. Waitz also denounced intimidation and threatening messages in the days leading up to the planned vote, which he considers part of 'a smear campaign designed to slow down North Macedonia's EU accession process.' 'The relentless attacks against me by parts of the Bulgarian far-right are completely unacceptable,' he told Euronews. Waitz's office provided Euronews with evidence that his phone number was leaked on social networks, along with several aggressive messages he received about the report. These messages accuse him of being influenced or corrupted by North Macedonia's government in drafting the report. 'I worked tirelessly for a well-balanced and impartial report on the democratic progress of this country. All political groups in the European Parliament were actively involved in the negotiations,' he said, denying the accusations. The vote on the report is now expected to be rescheduled for the 24th of June. The infamous meeting of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February upended the diplomatic world. Leaders and their advisors across the globe are considering different options before visiting the Oval Office in Washington. On 28 February, Ukraine's president had a heated argument with his US counterpart and Vice President JD Vance at the White House, ending with leaders raising their voices while confronting each other in an unprecedented diplomatic row in front of television cameras. The meeting sent shockwaves across the world as diplomats attempted to work on different strategies for dealing with Trump, when it comes to bilateral meetings at the Oval Office. Now that it's German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's turn for a moment in the Oval Office, here are some options for him to consider when dealing with the US president. Primary advice for leaders is to bear in mind they will not have much private time with Trump: most of the discussions will be live on air, in front of the cameras. "The first thing is to be prepared for everything. I think one of the biggest challenges that we saw with President Zelenskyy was that no one in their wildest imagination could have imagined that Donald Trump would want to discuss very controversial national security issues with a rolling camera," Bruegel think tank analyst Jacob Kirkegaard told Euronews. During their confrontation, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being disrespectful, while Trump reminded him he had no cards in the game. The meeting ended without signing the long-awaited mineral deal between the two sides. Another incident where the talks went south was Trump's meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, which saw the US president rolling suspect news footage while alleging white genocide in the country. Trump said people are fleeing the country because of violence against white farmers, played television videos and handed over a pile of newspaper articles to his counterpart. The claim was rejected by President Ramaphosa, who said the majority of victims of violence in the country are black, adding that there is no genocide in South Africa. President Ramaphosa did manage to hit back at Trump afterwards, when he lamented not having a plane to give Trump, a reference to Qatar's offer of a $400 million (€350m) aeroplane to the US president. In May the US officially accepted a Boeing 747 airliner from Qatar to serve the famous Air Force One fleet of the president. The presence of cameras inevitably shifts the nature of any diplomacy on display. "One of the characteristics of Donald Trump is that he's always unfiltered. He says whatever he thinks at the moment, for good or bad, right, and that obviously is not the way diplomacy between countries is normally conducted," said Kirkegaard. Mostly, such conversations are kept well away from media scrutiny, according to Kirkegaard, who added: "Perhaps he feels that having a camera throws other leaders off balance." The next advice for those braving the Oval Office is to shower Trump with gifts and gestures, such as that Qatari plane. The gift sparked debates and legal concerns in the US, but the Trump administration never backed down from accepting the gift. Brett Bruen, the president of the Global Situation Room and a former US diplomat, told Euronews that European leaders should keep in mind that Trump is out for a prize, something that he can hold up. "It can be a flashy object and say, look, I got the biggest, the best deal, the substance doesn't really matter. Quite frankly, the strategy doesn't seem to matter very much," Bruen said. "So this is ultimately like, how do you deal with a toddler? A toddler is constantly going to come back and say I want more, I want this new toy." "Well, if I were advising European leaders, I would say have a bunch of small, shiny objects lined up and every time Trump comes and says, well, I want something else, you dole out that next shiny object to him," he explained. Bruegel's Kirkegaard agreed that Trump should sometimes be treated like a child. "I think you have to certainly deal with him, expecting a possible tantrum. He can be very unpredictable in a way that a child is. You clearly know he is a narcissist. So you have, if you want, to play to his ego," said Kirkegaard. Witness British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office handing the president a cartoon-sized invitation for a state visit to the UK from King Charles III. "This is really special, this is unprecedented, this has never happened before," Starmer told Trump in an attempt to charm him. A strategy that can pay off, according to the expert. "Obviously, if you are the British prime minister, you know that Donald Trump likes the royal family, has a fondness of the UK in general, of course, you would want to exploit that," Kirkegaard said. "In the same way that, for instance, a former Japanese prime minister who was a pretty keen golfer exploited that with Donald Trump as well, who's well known for his fondness for golf." After the disastrous Trump-Zelenskyy meeting back in February, many foreign dignitaries decided not see Trump. Asian leaders are particularly keen to avoid any nasty surprises that might spring from an encounter with the US president. Trump's temper might cause Beijing to think twice about accepting a bilateral meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping anytime soon. "In the case of Asia, political cultures or systems have a low tolerance for the unexpected, which requires a certain formality around their political leaders. One example is China," Kirkegaard said. "There's no doubt that the possibility of a Xi Jinping-Trump meeting is close to zero, or probably is zero under these circumstances. Because there's simply no chance that the Chinese government will risk putting Xi Jinping in this position where something not scripted could happen. I think that applies similarly to many other Asian countries," he explained. An exception to this rule is Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who had a fruitful meeting with Trump back in February, where they talked about a possible trade deal and more LNG transfer from the US to Japan. But the expert recalls that even those positive meetings will not bring results, questioning the necessity of those highly risky visits. "The reality is that there has been no breakthrough on trade deals with Japan. So the question is, why would anybody want to come? Whatever Trump agrees to, maybe or maybe not, in a bilateral meeting in the White House, might be forgotten the next day," according to Kirkegaard. "Again, go back to what happened to Keir Starmer. He thought he had a trade agreement with Donald Trump that exempted British steel exports to the US. Well, clearly he didn't have that. So, you know, it's very much for, especially countries like that in Asia, it is very high risk and essentially maybe no reward," Kirkegaard said. Visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte went relatively well. In the case of Rutte, this is because the US is the main force in the alliance. "De facto Rutte works for Donald Trump, let's not forget that. He came, and he's basically done everything that the president would want him to do. They're working towards a 5% target for NATO defence expenditure for example," Kirkegaard said. For Merz's visit on Thursday, the stakes are high. The Trump administration is highly critical of Germany. Vance and Elon Musk supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German election campaign and accused Germany of suppressing free speech. And Trump is also critical of the record German trade surplus. So far it's not clear which attitude Merz will take towards Trump. But standing up to him might be popular in Germany. "If you're the German chancellor, you go to the Oval Office and you hold your ground. You take a public confrontation with Donald Trump over issues, it might play well for Friedrich Merz domestically, to stand up to Donald Trump's bullying or perhaps refuting his fake news," said Kirkegaard. He said that when Macron interrupted Trump back in February, correcting the US president over European funding to Ukraine, it did him no political damage. And in the case of Zelenskyy, he even benefited domestically for not backing down. This could also be working on Merz's mind. Competing narratives have emerged following a series of deadly incidents which reportedly took place in the vicinity of the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) food aid distribution sites in south-west Gaza. According to accounts from local Hamas-run authorities, as well as eyewitnesses and medical professionals, troops from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) shot at and killed a number of Palestinians who were seeking to access the GHF sites in recent days. While shootings were reported near all three GHF hubs in southern Gaza, the heaviest occurred on Sunday and Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, which is situated on a designated access route to a hub in the Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah. The UN has called for an independent investigation into the incidents, reminding Israel that it is required to facilitate humanitarian aid under international law. EuroVerify takes a look at the facts in order to build up a timeline of what we know. On Sunday, 31 Palestinians were reportedly killed by IDF shots as they attempted to access GHF distribution sites, said local Hamas-run authorities. To reach the GHF's sites in Rafah, Palestinians must walk for kilometres along a designated route, which the GHF says the Israeli military keeps secure. In statements to the public, the GHF has warned that people should stay on the road, stating that leaving it "represents a great danger." Before dawn on Sunday, thousands of Palestinians massed at the Flag Roundabout, approximately one kilometre northwest of GHF's site. By 3am, thousands had gathered and according to Palestinian witnesses, it is around this time that Israeli troops started firing at the crowd with guns, tanks and drones. NGO Médecins sans Frontières has stated that patients — who said they had been shot by Israeli forces near GHF distribution sites — began to stream into Khan Younis' Nasser hospital on Sunday morning. Another international organisation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), declared that on Sunday, 179 adults and children bearing shrapnel and gunshot wounds arrived at the organisation's field hospital in Rafah. According to the ICRC, its medical teams declared 21 individuals dead upon arrival. Israel has denied allegations its forces opened fire on locals queuing for aid in Rafah. On Sunday the IDF branded such reports "false" in a post shared on X, stating that an initial inquiry found that its forces "did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site." The GHF told EuroVerify that no incidents occurred at or in the surrounding vicinity of their distribution site on Sunday, adding that there were "no injuries, no fatalities." On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli forces had shot and killed at least 27 people near the GHF distribution centre. Civilians were fired at by tanks, drones and helicopters near the Flag Roundabout close to the distribution hub. Israel denies that such an incident happened and claims that it only fired warning shots at people it suspected were deviating from designated access routes to the GHF centre. "The troops carried out warning fire and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near individual suspects who advanced toward the troops," the IDF said in a post on X. It added that it was aware of reported casualties and that it was investigating the incident. "IDF troops are not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites," the IDF said. "The warning shots were fired approximately half a kilometre away from the humanitarian aid distribution site toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops in such a way that posed a threat to them." The GHF itself said that the distribution of food was carried out without any issues within its perimeter and that it was aware of the Israeli investigation into the reported injured civilians. On Wednesday, the GHF said it had paused aid distribution and discussing measures to improve civilian safety with the Israeli military, including changes to traffic management and troop training. The body began distributing aid on 26 May, after a three-month Israeli blockade on aid entering Gaza pushed the population of more than 2 million to the brink of famine. The GHF system limits food distribution to hubs guarded by armed contractors. Of the three hubs that are open, one is in central Gaza and two are in the far south on the outskirts of the mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah. Israel's ban on international media access to Gaza — which means that journalists must partake in an organised army press tour to enter the territory — has fuelled online speculation and renders independent on the ground verification a major challenge.
Euronews
5 days ago
- Euronews
Bulgarian MEPs delay vote on North Macedonia's EU accession report
The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday delayed voting on a report evaluating North Macedonia's progress towards accession to the EU. The report was set to be voted on alongside files for other countries vying for EU membership. While the reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Georgia were adopted, North Macedonia's was blocked due to a last-minute disagreement among political groups. The MEP responsible for writing the report, Austrian Thomas Waitz from the Greens/EFA group, announced the decision to delay the vote following a request from the European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament. The EPP withdrew its support the day before the scheduled vote, after initially agreeing to its content, sources from the Parliament told Euronews. This left the report without the required majority for approval and left Waitz with no option but to request a postponement. The EPP's change of mind was pushed by its Bulgarian members, who managed to rally the entire group. 'The report mentions the 'recognition of Macedonian identity and language', which could lead to misunderstanding and wrong interpretation. We want more clarity on this point,' EPP MEP Andrey Kovatchev told Euronews. Kovatchev's party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, is at odds with recent remarks made by North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski about the report. ' He stated that this report refers to 'centuries-old Macedonian identity and the unique Macedonian language', which we dispute. Although this is not written in the report, we need more clarity on this point.' The identity dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria has long been an obstacle on Skopje's path to joining the EU. Essentially, the Bulgarian government believes that North Macedonia's language shares common roots with Bulgarian, a claim North Macedonians reject. In 2022, the EU included Bulgaria's demands in the conclusions related to North Macedonia's accession, to overcome Sofia's veto on the talks. To move forward with negotiations, North Macedonia was required to amend its constitution to include the Bulgarian minority—something that has yet to be finalised. While North Macedonia now has 'an excellent and ambitious reform agenda' and 'demonstrates commitment to EU integration and alignment with EU policies', according to the draft report, identity and language remain contentious issues in bilateral relations with Bulgaria. 'Some Bulgarian MEPs have taken this accession progress report hostage for their domestic nationalistic agenda,' Waitz said in a statement to Euronews. Waitz also denounced intimidation and threatening messages in the days leading up to the planned vote, which he considers part of 'a smear campaign designed to slow down North Macedonia's EU accession process.' 'The relentless attacks against me by parts of the Bulgarian far-right are completely unacceptable,' he told Euronews. Waitz's office provided Euronews with evidence that his phone number was leaked on social networks, along with several aggressive messages he received about the report. These messages accuse him of being influenced or corrupted by North Macedonia's government in drafting the report. 'I worked tirelessly for a well-balanced and impartial report on the democratic progress of this country. All political groups in the European Parliament were actively involved in the negotiations,' he said, denying the accusations. The vote on the report is now expected to be rescheduled for 24 June.
Euronews
5 days ago
- Euronews
Bulgarian MEPs delay vote on North Macedonian EU accession report
The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday delayed voting on a report evaluating North Macedonia's progress towards accession to the EU. The report was set to be voted on alongside files for other countries vying for EU membership. While the reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Georgia were adopted, North Macedonia's was blocked due to a last-minute disagreement among political groups. The MEP responsible for writing the report, Austrian Thomas Waitz from the Greens/EFA group, announced the decision to delay the vote following a request from the European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament. The EPP withdrew its support the day before the scheduled vote, after initially agreeing to its content, sources from the Parliament told Euronews. This left the report without the required majority for approval and left Waitz with no option but to request a postponement. The EPP's change of mind was pushed by its Bulgarian members, who managed to rally the entire group. 'The report mentions the 'recognition of Macedonian identity and language', which could lead to misunderstanding and wrong interpretation. We want more clarity on this point,' EPP MEP Andrey Kovatchev told Euronews. Kovatchev's party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, is at odds with recent remarks made by North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski about the report. 'He stated that this report refers to 'centuries-old Macedonian identity and the unique Macedonian language', which we dispute. Although this is not written in the report, we need more clarity on this point.' The identity dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria has long been an obstacle on Skopje's path to joining the EU. Essentially, the Bulgarian government believes that North Macedonia's language shares common roots with Bulgarian, a claim North Macedonians reject. In 2022, the EU included Bulgaria's demands in the conclusions related to North Macedonia's accession, to overcome Sofia's veto on the talks. To move forward with negotiations, North Macedonia was required to amend its Constitution to include the Bulgarian minority—something that has yet to be finalized. While North Macedonia now has 'an excellent and ambitious reform agenda' and 'demonstrates commitment to EU integration and alignment with EU policies', according to the draft report, identity and language remain contentious issues in bilateral relations with Bulgaria. 'Some Bulgarian MEPs have taken this accession progress report hostage for their domestic nationalistic agenda,' Waitz said in a statement to Euronews. Accusations of intimidation Waitz also denounced intimidation and threatening messages in the days leading up to the planned vote, which he considers part of 'a smear campaign designed to slow down North Macedonia's EU accession process.' 'The relentless attacks against me by parts of the Bulgarian far-right are completely unacceptable,' he told Euronews. Waitz's office provided Euronews with evidence that his phone number was leaked on social networks, along with several aggressive messages he received about the report. These messages accuse him of being influenced or corrupted by North Macedonia's government in drafting the report. 'I worked tirelessly for a well-balanced and impartial report on the democratic progress of this country. All political groups in the European Parliament were actively involved in the negotiations,' he said, denying the accusations. The vote on the report is now expected to be rescheduled for the 24th of June. The infamous meeting of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February upended the diplomatic world. Leaders and their advisors across the globe are considering different options before visiting the Oval Office in Washington. On 28 February, Ukraine's president had a heated argument with his US counterpart and Vice President JD Vance at the White House, ending with leaders raising their voices while confronting each other in an unprecedented diplomatic row in front of television cameras. The meeting sent shockwaves across the world as diplomats attempted to work on different strategies for dealing with Trump, when it comes to bilateral meetings at the Oval Office. Now that it's German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's turn for a moment in the Oval Office, here are some options for him to consider when dealing with the US president. Primary advice for leaders is to bear in mind they will not have much private time with Trump: most of the discussions will be live on air, in front of the cameras. "The first thing is to be prepared for everything. I think one of the biggest challenges that we saw with President Zelenskyy was that no one in their wildest imagination could have imagined that Donald Trump would want to discuss very controversial national security issues with a rolling camera," Bruegel think tank analyst Jacob Kirkegaard told Euronews. During their confrontation, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being disrespectful, while Trump reminded him he had no cards in the game. The meeting ended without signing the long-awaited mineral deal between the two sides. Another incident where the talks went south was Trump's meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, which saw the US president rolling suspect news footage while alleging white genocide in the country. Trump said people are fleeing the country because of violence against white farmers, played television videos and handed over a pile of newspaper articles to his counterpart. The claim was rejected by President Ramaphosa, who said the majority of victims of violence in the country are black, adding that there is no genocide in South Africa. President Ramaphosa did manage to hit back at Trump afterwards, when he lamented not having a plane to give Trump, a reference to Qatar's offer of a $400 million (€350m) aeroplane to the US president. In May the US officially accepted a Boeing 747 airliner from Qatar to serve the famous Air Force One fleet of the president. The presence of cameras inevitably shifts the nature of any diplomacy on display. "One of the characteristics of Donald Trump is that he's always unfiltered. He says whatever he thinks at the moment, for good or bad, right, and that obviously is not the way diplomacy between countries is normally conducted," said Kirkegaard. Mostly, such conversations are kept well away from media scrutiny, according to Kirkegaard, who added: "Perhaps he feels that having a camera throws other leaders off balance." The next advice for those braving the Oval Office is to shower Trump with gifts and gestures, such as that Qatari plane. The gift sparked debates and legal concerns in the US, but the Trump administration never backed down from accepting the gift. Brett Bruen, the president of the Global Situation Room and a former US diplomat, told Euronews that European leaders should keep in mind that Trump is out for a prize, something that he can hold up. "It can be a flashy object and say, look, I got the biggest, the best deal, the substance doesn't really matter. Quite frankly, the strategy doesn't seem to matter very much," Bruen said. "So this is ultimately like, how do you deal with a toddler? A toddler is constantly going to come back and say I want more, I want this new toy." "Well, if I were advising European leaders, I would say have a bunch of small, shiny objects lined up and every time Trump comes and says, well, I want something else, you dole out that next shiny object to him," he explained. Bruegel's Kirkegaard agreed that Trump should sometimes be treated like a child. "I think you have to certainly deal with him, expecting a possible tantrum. He can be very unpredictable in a way that a child is. You clearly know he is a narcissist. So you have, if you want, to play to his ego," said Kirkegaard. Witness British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office handing the president a cartoon-sized invitation for a state visit to the UK from King Charles III. "This is really special, this is unprecedented, this has never happened before," Starmer told Trump in an attempt to charm him. A strategy that can pay off, according to the expert. "Obviously, if you are the British prime minister, you know that Donald Trump likes the royal family, has a fondness of the UK in general, of course, you would want to exploit that," Kirkegaard said. "In the same way that, for instance, a former Japanese prime minister who was a pretty keen golfer exploited that with Donald Trump as well, who's well known for his fondness for golf." After the disastrous Trump-Zelenskyy meeting back in February, many foreign dignitaries decided not see Trump. Asian leaders are particularly keen to avoid any nasty surprises that might spring from an encounter with the US president. Trump's temper might cause Beijing to think twice about accepting a bilateral meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping anytime soon. "In the case of Asia, political cultures or systems have a low tolerance for the unexpected, which requires a certain formality around their political leaders. One example is China," Kirkegaard said. "There's no doubt that the possibility of a Xi Jinping-Trump meeting is close to zero, or probably is zero under these circumstances. Because there's simply no chance that the Chinese government will risk putting Xi Jinping in this position where something not scripted could happen. I think that applies similarly to many other Asian countries," he explained. An exception to this rule is Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who had a fruitful meeting with Trump back in February, where they talked about a possible trade deal and more LNG transfer from the US to Japan. But the expert recalls that even those positive meetings will not bring results, questioning the necessity of those highly risky visits. "The reality is that there has been no breakthrough on trade deals with Japan. So the question is, why would anybody want to come? Whatever Trump agrees to, maybe or maybe not, in a bilateral meeting in the White House, might be forgotten the next day," according to Kirkegaard. "Again, go back to what happened to Keir Starmer. He thought he had a trade agreement with Donald Trump that exempted British steel exports to the US. Well, clearly he didn't have that. So, you know, it's very much for, especially countries like that in Asia, it is very high risk and essentially maybe no reward," Kirkegaard said. Visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte went relatively well. In the case of Rutte, this is because the US is the main force in the alliance. "De facto Rutte works for Donald Trump, let's not forget that. He came, and he's basically done everything that the president would want him to do. They're working towards a 5% target for NATO defence expenditure for example," Kirkegaard said. For Merz's visit on Thursday, the stakes are high. The Trump administration is highly critical of Germany. Vance and Elon Musk supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German election campaign and accused Germany of suppressing free speech. And Trump is also critical of the record German trade surplus. So far it's not clear which attitude Merz will take towards Trump. But standing up to him might be popular in Germany. "If you're the German chancellor, you go to the Oval Office and you hold your ground. You take a public confrontation with Donald Trump over issues, it might play well for Friedrich Merz domestically, to stand up to Donald Trump's bullying or perhaps refuting his fake news," said Kirkegaard. He said that when Macron interrupted Trump back in February, correcting the US president over European funding to Ukraine, it did him no political damage. And in the case of Zelenskyy, he even benefited domestically for not backing down. This could also be working on Merz's mind.
