The News
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron announced deeper defense collaboration Wednesday, a hopeful sign for Paris that the new German leader could help lead Europe’s push to bolster its security, analysts said.
Macron said the two countries would set up a joint security and defense council, “to bring operational responses to our common strategic challenges.”
Those could include European nuclear deterrence; Merz said he would “speak with France and the UK” about the issue, as Berlin has grown increasingly uncertain about the future reliability of the US nuclear umbrella.
Yet analysts have warned that Merz’s already rocky start — weakened by his failure to immediately secure the chancellorship — could hamper his ability to enact some ambitious defense and infrastructure policies.