Two days before the German elections, from which he was expected to emerge victorious, Friedrich Merz raised the need to speak "with the British and French to find out if their nuclear protection could be extended to the Germans." Installed under American deterrent protection after the defeat in World War II, humiliated by the division of territory imposed by the victors, condemned to live with a certain restraint in its will to power after the crimes of Nazism, Germany opted to reconquer Europe with its economic deployment, even if it meant its military arm was tied. Now, faced with America's Trumpist drift, the Christian Democrat leader is freeing himself from the taboos of history and seeking refuge in his European rivals: France, which can never avoid believing itself to be the center of Europe, and Great Britain, always with one foot out of the house—a small piece out at sea—is demolishing the natural world by way of the Atlantic.
Merz arrives strong, eager to make his voice heard. The agreement announced Friday on German debt confirms this. He knows of Macron's weakness, and that, having fallen into disrepute at home, he is trying to take advantage of the global crisis to regain his profile. And he acknowledges the critical situation in Europe. Despite his conservative reputation, he hasn't wanted to sully himself like much of the European right by looking to the far right, and has opted for a coalition with social democracy, facing the current situation responsibly, aware of the critical moment we find ourselves in. His appeal to the French umbrella is a challenge to all Europeans. We are not in the mood for pride and pettiness, the psychopathology of petty differences. This is a grave time, and we need to act with shared responsibility. If he distances himself from the Americans, it is because he wants to make it clear that he doesn't want to participate in their delusions; if he grants the French the power of protection, it is because this is not a time to look askance.
The European Union runs the risk of exposing the unrealistic aspects of its structure, transformed into a bureaucratic elite, dangerously inward-looking. Much ado about nothing. Merz's gesture toward France speaks to the urgent need to think together and in concert. This is what should be done within and outside each country: to be able to put current priorities before specific circumstances and establish guidelines for defending against the bilateral threats (the United States and Russia) of post-democratic authoritarianism. This is not the time for the miserable bickering of politicians who confuse politics with noise and thus save themselves from thinking. Winning a vote doesn't justify everything. Merz has gone for democratic unity instead of surrendering to the far right, as most conservative parties are doing, aligning themselves with the Trumpist line of blurring the democracy that American theotechnocracy has set in motion. Will it hold up?
