New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday he will work to bring Europe and the U.S. together in their approach to Ukraine, enable his country to build Europe's strongest conventional army and make Europe's biggest economy a “locomotive of growth” again.
The conservative leader took office a week ago after winning election in February, ending a six-month period in which the European Union's most populous member lacked a government with a parliamentary majority. He has already made a flurry of trips to EU allies and visited Kyiv with his French, Polish and British counterparts.
