Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
Germany's Friedrich Merz warns of potential US slide into populist instability, raising concerns over NATO and global democracy.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz said on Thursday the U.S. was at risk of sliding into longer-term authoritarian instability, casting doubt on Washington's presence for Germany’s 70th NATO membership anniversary in May.
The outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and likely successor Merz have largely avoided direct public criticism of President Donald Trump's month-old administration. But senior U.S. officials' remarks on NATO and free speech in Europe over the past week have been condemned by Berlin.
Merz is candidate to be chancellor for the two allied conservative parties (CDU/CSU) that are leading polls ahead of a snap federal election on Sunday.
"I hope that it (the U.S.) remains a democracy and does not slide into an authoritarian populist system," Merz said at a campaign event in Darmstadt.
He said that if the U.S. remained a democracy, it would need partners as only autocratic systems operated alone.
"But it may be that America will enter a longer period of instability and that this populism, this autocratic behaviour of the heads of state, will continue for a longer period of time," he said, calling for Germany and Europe to step up to become able to defend themselves.
Merz said he was not certain it would be possible to celebrate Germany's 70 years of NATO membership as the political order it had been used to was crumbling.
"Will the Americans still be there? Eight weeks ago I would not have dared to ask this question, but today we have to give an answer to it," he said.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The article discusses Friedrich Merz's concerns about the US potentially sliding into populist instability and its impact on NATO and global democracy.
Merz is concerned that the US may enter a period of authoritarian instability, affecting its democratic alliances and NATO commitments.
Germany may need to strengthen its defense capabilities and reassess its reliance on US support within NATO.
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