The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Democrat candidate for German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, wants to create a contact group consisting of Germany, France, Poland and Great Britain, which will develop a strategy “to support Ukraine to end the war.”
Merz made the announcement on Wednesday during a speech on how he sees security policy Germanthat he will pay a visit to Ukraine. His trip is planned “in the next few days.” He stressed that he would inform European partners about its results.
– None of us knows what will actually happen after January 20, 2025 – he said, directly referring to the day when Donald Trump will be sworn in as president for the second time USA.
The CDU leader repeated his call for the creation of a contact group on Ukraine, in which he would also like to see Poland, France and the UK, and called on European countries to provide more assistance to Ukraine. At the same time, he stressed that it should be supported “by all necessary diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and even military means needed to exercise the right of self-defense and restore territorial integrity.”
– Ukraine must win the war, a Russia he must lose it, said Merz, quoted by the German portal n-tv.
The CDU politician previously visited Ukraine in May 2022, shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
Friedrich MerzChristoph Reichwein/dpa/PAP
Early elections in Germany
Friedrich Merz was officially nominated as a candidate for German Chancellor in the 2025 parliamentary elections in September by the Christian Democrat committees of the CDU and CSU. According to data from the dpa agency, the politician received 266 votes of support. One CDU member voted against it and two abstained. There was no opposing candidate in district no. 146.
Early elections to the Bundestag are scheduled to take place on February 23. The current chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to be head of government again on behalf of his social democratic SPD.
Main photo source: Christoph Reichwein/dpa/PAP