Ayhan Simsek
14 May 2026•Update: 14 May 2026
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday said Europe was “wrong” to believe its values alone could guarantee peace and security, arguing the European Union must strengthen its economic and military power to confront growing global challenges.
“Europe has woken up. Europe is strengthening itself economically and in terms of security policy,” Merz said at the International Charlemagne Prize award ceremony in Aachen.
Merz argued that the bloc could only assert itself internationally through combined economic and military strength while reaffirming Europe’s support for Ukraine against Russia.
“We in Europe have relied too heavily in the past on the belief that the power of humanistic European-Western ideas would magically transform the world into a realm of freedom and peace. We were wrong,” he said.
The German leader said Europe must move beyond what he described as “false optimism” while continuing to defend a rules-based international order.
“Europe has the opportunity to take part in shaping the new world order so that it is governed by norms and rules rather than arbitrariness and the law of the strong. We have that opportunity,” he said.
He added the European Union was forging new trade partnerships worldwide to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen its global position.
Merz also praised former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who received the Charlemagne Prize, for his proposals to reform the EU amid intensifying global competition.
He said European leaders had embraced key recommendations from Draghi’s report on European competitiveness and were working to implement reforms aimed at strengthening the bloc’s economy and unity.
