Europe will lose its independence to the world's economic giants if European leaders do not act quickly to restore competitiveness. This was warned by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a parliamentary session, quoted by "Politico".
He called on the European Union to undertake major economic reforms or risk losing its global importance. Merz stressed that "the coming weeks, months and perhaps years will decide whether Europe will remain an independent economic power in the world economy or whether we will become a pawn of the major economic centers in Asia or America".
The German chancellor is under political pressure at home to do more to address Germany's economic woes. After two consecutive years of decline, economists expect little or no economic growth this year, partly due to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies, which have hit Berlin's export-oriented economy particularly hard. German business leaders are now calling on Friedrich Merz to undertake bolder reforms to stimulate growth.
The chancellor's coalition has promised to reform the labor market and social benefits. But in recent weeks, Merz has been calling on the EU to cut red tape for businesses, strengthen the EU's internal market and conclude more global trade agreements.
"We don't have an awareness problem in Europe, we have an implementation problem," Merz told parliament on Monday. He added that he intended to raise the issue again with European partners. "And again, this is above all about the competitiveness of our European economy," he said.
Friedrich Merz called on the EC to negotiate more EU-only trade agreements with countries and trading blocs around the world and insisted on signing a trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc before the end of the year.