German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed his government’s unwavering resolve to support Ukraine in its defensive war against Russian military aggression.
“We stand with the Ukrainian people without any ‘ifs’ or ‘buts,’” Merz said in a speech at a party congress of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he leads, on Friday, February 20, in Stuttgart.
The head of government said Germany would never accept that “the criminal Russian regime is systematically waging war against Ukraine’s civilian population — against the elderly, women and children.” He also condemned Moscow’s rhetoric, noting that Russia has accompanied its aggression, now in its fourth year, with “simply unbearable Nazi propaganda against the Ukrainian people — a people who suffered under German and Russian tyranny as few others in the world have.” The chancellor stressed that this would always meet a resolute response from Germany.
Russian aggression is “a litmus test for our values and our resolve,” the Christian Democratic politician said. He invoked the lessons of history: “Appeasement does not create peace. It only encourages the aggressor.” Those who embrace “naive pacifism” today, he added, help sow the wars of tomorrow.
Merz called for a clear answer on how Germany can protect its values, interests, freedom, security, prosperity and sovereignty. He said that answer must be European in nature, in the tradition of former CDU chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl, and built on “values-based realism.” Europe, he concluded, must learn to “speak the language of power.”
