December 10, 2025, 3:25 p.mDecember 10, 2025, 3:25 p.m
Chancellor Merz and President Trump at a meeting in Egypt. (Archive image, October 2025)Image: keystone
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz does not see Germany affected by the US President’s criticism of European immigration policy.
The Christian Democrat said at a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Berlin that he had repeatedly told Donald Trump that Germany was making a new asylum and immigration policy. At the next meeting, he will tell Trump “that we have had great success in that we have been able to roughly halve the number of asylum seekers in Germany.”
“I assume that he also recognizes that we have made a course correction in the area that has actually caused us considerable problems in Germany,” added Merz.
In view of Trump’s recent criticism of Europe, the conservative German head of government emphasized that if the US President “can’t do anything with this institution or with the construction of the European Union” and the US government is having difficulty with it, then there are at least individual member states – “and of course this includes, first and foremost, Germany, with which one can continue to enter into such cooperation.”
He still wants to see the USA as a partner, “and I hope that from his perspective America sees it that way towards Europe and then also towards Germany”.
Trump had previously doubled down on his criticism of Europe. In principle, he likes the “current line-up,” he told the news portal “Politico,” referring to the top politicians in European countries: “But they are not doing a good job. Europe is not doing a good job.” He promised to support European politicians in the future who he considers more suitable.
Trump once again criticized the immigration policies of European countries, which would mean that many of these countries would no longer be “viable states” in the future. He cited Hungary and Poland as the only positive examples – right-wing politicians hold top positions in both countries. (sda/dpa)