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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Michael Howie

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz calls for European 'independence from US' as he blasts Trump and Musk

The man set to become Germany’s next chancellor has blasted the Trump administration and urged Europe to distance itself from Washington as his conservative party was confirmed to have won the country’s general election.

Friedrich Merz sharply criticised US President Donald Trump’s chief confidante Elon Musk for meddling in the German election campaign after the tech billionaire publicly backed the far-right AfD, saying it was the only party that “can save Germany”.

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