Somebody looking like Friedrich Merz, walking like Friedrich Merz, and speaking like Friedrich Merz said the contrary of what Friedrich Merz had said until the day before. We have already mentioned it, but here is the entire final passage of his speech in front of the Chamber of Commerce in Halle, Jan. 14.
“If we then succeed in ensuring that peace and freedom return to Europe, that we finally find a balance with our largest European neighbor, namely Russia, in the longer term—I am not saying this because I am here in the East; I say it everywhere else in Germany too: Russia is a European country—if peace prevails, if freedom is guaranteed, if we succeed in all of this, ladies and gentlemen, then this European Union, then we in the Federal Republic of Germany will have passed another test, and then we can look ahead with great confidence beyond the year 2026.”
