Merkel says Merz is governing Germany at a difficult time as Putin and Trump create pressure

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Chancellor Friedrich Merz is governing under unusually difficult conditions, pointing to both Russia and the United States as major sources of pressure.

“We are two completely different characters,” Merkel said of Merz. She added that he was leading Germany at a time when President Vladimir Putin was “behaving very aggressively” and U.S. President Donald Trump was “causing us many problems.”

Merkel also said Germany had fallen behind on armed drones because efforts during her time in office repeatedly failed amid opposition from the Social Democrats. She said the country was now having to catch up as armed drones had become standard military equipment.

On domestic politics, Merkel drew a clear distinction between the Left Party and the far-right Alternative for Germany. She said some members of Die Linke held views she strongly rejected, including on antisemitism, but argued that the party’s positions were generally not contrary to Germany’s constitution.

“With the AfD, I have far greater doubts,” Merkel said, adding that she would accept cooperation with the Left in circumstances where she would reject cooperation with the AfD.

Merkel also rejected voting for an AfD candidate to lead a state parliament even if the party were the largest faction.

Addressing younger Germans in the east, Merkel said economic opportunities were substantially better than after reunification, when unemployment in the eastern states reached around 20%, and argued that young people still had strong prospects in Germany.