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Straits Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Merz assures Zelenskiy his government can be relied upon for support
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on as he opens a multilateral youth camp \"Youth4Peace\" in Berlin, Germany, May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen A resident reacts in front of his apartment building heavily damaged a day before, by a Russian air strike, while rescuers try to find his mother under debris, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 8, 2025. Iryna Rybakova/Press Service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS Merz assures Zelenskiy his government can be relied upon for support BERLIN - Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that his government could be relied upon for continued support against Russia's invasion, in a telephone call on Thursday, a government spokesperson said. Merz, who took office earlier this week after his conservatives won a February federal election, told Zelenskiy Germany supports the mediation efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, in close coordination with other European partners. "This includes helping Ukraine defend itself effectively against Russian aggression and exerting pressure on Russia," the spokesperson said. Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said he and Merz agreed to work together on matters of joint interest. "There are already concrete things that we can do together," Zelenskiy said. "Decisions will be taken." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Merz, Trump agree on need to resolve trade disputes, Germany says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reacts as he opens a multilateral youth camp \"Youth4Peace\" in Berlin, Germany, May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen Merz, Trump agree on need to resolve trade disputes, Germany says BERLIN - Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on the need to quickly resolve trade disputes in their first phone call since Merz took office earlier this week, a German government spokesperson said. Trump congratulated Merz on taking office, the spokesperson said, while Merz assured him that "80 years after the end of the Second World War, the United States remains an indispensable friend and partner of Germany." The two leaders also agreed on the need to closely cooperate with the aim of ending the war in Ukraine, the spokesperson said. Merz has adopted a markedly critical tone of the Trump administration since his conservatives won the federal election in February. On the night of the election he warned that Europe needed to become independent of the United States given the Trump administration's apparent indifference to its fate. The transatlanticist, who for 10 years led an association aimed at promoting German-U.S. understanding, also criticised the "ultimately outrageous" comments flowing from Washington during the campaign, comparing them to hostile interventions from Russia. He urged the administration earlier this week to stay out of domestic German politics after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the German domestic intelligence agency's decision to brand far-right party the Alternative for Germany "extremist". Merz has also been critical of Trump's widespread imposition of tariffs that are particularly damaging to Germany's export-oriented economy, calling instead for the complete abolition of tariffs between the European Union and the United States. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier accused the United States on Thursday of a "betrayal of values." "It is nothing less than a double epochal rupture — Russia's war of aggression, and America's betrayal of values — it marks the end of the long 20th century," he said in a speech to parliament. Russia, he argued, is endangering the peaceful order that was built after the end of World War II and the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. "But the fact that it is now of all countries the United States — which played a decisive role in shaping that order — that is turning away from it, is a shock of an entirely new magnitude," he added. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
