{"id":296399,"date":"2026-02-13T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296399\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:02:08","slug":"us-not-powerful-enough-to-go-it-alone-says-germanys-merz-at-munich-conference-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296399\/","title":{"rendered":"US not powerful enough \u2018to go it alone\u2019, says Germany\u2019s Merz at Munich conference \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

German chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> has called for Europe and the US to \u201crevive and repair\u201d the transatlantic relationship, warning that not even Washington is powerful enough any more to go it alone.<\/p>\n

Merz swung from conciliatory to challenging in his Munich Security Conference opening address, warning the US not to overestimate itself by thinking \u201cgreat power politics\u201d were sustainable in the long term.<\/p>\n

A year after a migration broadside against Europe by US vice-president JD Vance, Merz warned that the rise of China meant Washington\u2019s leadership role in the world was no longer unchallenged, \u201cand perhaps it has even been gambled away\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the US will come up against the limits of its powers if it decides to go it alone,\u201d he said, describing Nato as an asset \u2013 not a liability \u2013 for even its largest member.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Breaking up is hard to do: Europe confronts end of the old orderOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Merz acknowledged long-running US criticisms of European freeloading in Nato, but insisted his country, and other European alliance members, were now taking their membership obligations seriously.<\/p>\n

They had shaken off a \u201cself-inflicted dependency\u201d on the US security shield, he said, and using record military spending to erect a \u201cself-supporting European pillar\u201d for the alliance.<\/p>\n

Merz pointed to the recent Greenland crisis, when Europeans united to face down Donald Trump\u2019s annexation threats, as a taste of what this future strategy might hold.<\/p>\n

\"USUS secretary of state Marco Rubio in Munich on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

Nodding to Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen in the Munich audience, he said: \u201cShe knows that she can depend on European solidarity with no ifs or buts.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a nod to the fears of eastern Nato members vis-a-vis Russia, in particular the Baltic states, the German leader added that European alliance members would \u201cnot accept zones with different levels of security\u201d.<\/p>\n

For all its partners\u2019 differences, and with differences in the future likely, Merz pointed out that Nato remained the \u201cmost powerful political alliance in history\u201d and was, in turn, part of a postwar order to which European countries remained committed.<\/p>\n

Turning to US audience members, he noted that \u201ceven strategists in the Pentagon\u201d acknowledged the limits of US power and influence \u2013 and the perils of autocracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Germans know that a world in which only power counts would be a dark place,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur country took this path in the 20th century to the bitter \u2013 and evil \u2013 end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohannJohann Wadephul, Germany’s foreign minister, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union and Mark Rutte, secretary general of Nato at the Munich Security Conference. Photograph: Alex Kraus\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n

A year into US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second term, the Munich gathering is taking place under the heading \u201cunder destruction\u201d.<\/p>\n

US secretary of state Marco Rubio will address the conference on Saturday morning, followed by Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart and Politiburo member.<\/p>\n

Rubio will meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy who, in turn, will meet the German, French and UK leaders. <\/p>\n

US analysts expect Rubio to remain consistent on Trump\u2019s policies in Munich but less contentious, seeking areas of co-operation on shared global and regional concerns, including the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Representing Ireland is Helen McEntee, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minsiter for State for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne. They will hold meetings with counterparts and partners from European, the Middle East and North America.<\/p>\n

McEntee said Ireland was not immune from \u201cthe effects of an increasingly volatile world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike our EU partners, Ireland recognises the importance of strengthening both our national and collective preparedness across all aspects of security and defence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

McEntee said she would reaffirm Ireland\u2019s commitment to a just and lasting peace in both Ukraine and Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for Europe and the US to \u201crevive and repair\u201d the transatlantic relationship,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,9146,8864,3024,42,20878,128180,43,3026,3589,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-296399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-emmanuel-macron","10":"tag-friedrich-merz","11":"tag-greenland","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-marco-rubio","14":"tag-mette-frederiksen","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}