On November 5, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave a speech at the Berlin meeting of the Hayek Society, presenting himself as a leading follower of founder of the fascist Austrian School of economics Friedrich Hayek, whose wisdom, Merz claimed, is as valid today as during the lifetime of Hayek. “Freedom instead of Socialism” or the “Pretense of Knowledge” are important orientations for politics today, in which it must be emphasized that the free market is always better than state intervention, he pronounced.

Among other examples of his own policies of true, libertarian Hayekism, Merz pointed to the search for new supply chains of raw materials and energy (meaning Russia and China). He furthermore defended his support of a market solution on the price of energy (implying that citizens should be happy about the 40-percent price increase for natural gas in 2026).