“If you want to talk to Europe, who would you call?”
The issue is well-known to stem from former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and refers to the historical incompetence that European political entities coordinate on the united front of the global arena.
And despite decades of integration under the European Union, what he speaks for or hopes for Europe is probably less clear than in any point in recent years. The internal rifts of immigration, right-wing nationalism, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Donald Trump’s return to the White House all challenge the concept of Europe.
The expected next German prime minister, Friedrich Merz, offered one continental vision shortly after his Conservatives won the country’s national elections. “My absolute priority is to strengthen Europe as soon as possible, so that in stages we will be able to achieve independence from America,” he said.
Mertz’s apparent desire for a powerful German role can bring the balance shift back to the EU’s Germany’s outstanding and outstanding location. However, given the continental political mines, it remains an open question as to how well Europe can be unified, or what kind of Europe it will become.
Fill Merkel’s shoes
German leaders have managed to provide something in living memory that approaches the singular European voice that the White House can deal with. Europe has long been synonymous with Angela Merkel, the long-lasting and only female prime minister of Germany, known for her loving nicknames such as “Mutti Merkel” and “Mommy Merkel.”
Her legacy, Merkel, who worked from 2005 to 2021, was defined by her strong commitment to clean energy, welcoming hundreds of thousands of refugees amid the 2015 European immigration crisis and defending German leaders of the European Union. In the process, she became something of the “European Engine.”
Merkel worked particularly well with his passionate fellow European, France’s Emmanuel Macron, to share his vision of united Europe and its core values to other parts of the world. The pair, called “Mercron” by commentators, was considered an EU power couple.
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Meanwhile, former US President Barack Obama often describes Merkel as his closest ally, praises her humanitarian vision for refugee politics and adorns her with the medal of freedom, the highest honor the United States can award to foreigners.
Merkel was also visionary, and was particularly fantastical about his pre-Cold War superpowers and controversial leaders. As an East German child, she never trusted Russia’s Vladimir Putin. She also experienced great challenges to work with Trump during his first presidency. In 2017, Merkel, who had some anticipated Merkel’s recent comments, warned that neither Germany nor the EU could rely on him as before, and that he could not urge his fellow Europeans to put their fate and profits into their own hands.
Deja vu in “German Questions”
But in a way, Merkel was more popular overseas than at home.
The so-called “German Questions” – or the inability of Germans to unite their leadership as a nation of “Late Cartour” or “Lead Culture” has tormented the country since the 19th century, gaining new relevance in the year of German reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
In the year since the so-called “Merkel’s Miracle,” Germany’s growing internal political sector, especially in the West and East of the country, reflects the broader divisions facing the EU as a whole, including the mantle of political leadership and which visions to center.
To regain the gravitas in Europe, it was under Merkel, Germany. Now we need a similar kind of powerful, foresighted programme that resonates with the continent. The country’s political, economic and social challenges of 2025 require a clear national leader. This is, in my opinion, even over the past few years, extermination Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, who is in my opinion non-emotional and non-characteristic, is an opposition right-wing leader and his successor, Mertz, has not been demonstrated in public.
Merkel and Meltz represent the same political parties, but their vision for the CDU, Germany and the EU are significantly different. Signed book “Dare More Capitalism” by wealthy former business lawyer Mertz is a blueprint for a policy agenda that prioritizes reducing government intervention, lowering bureaucracy, lowering taxes and reducing market reforms. Mertz also wants to strengthen Germany’s borders with a restrictive immigration politics. This reflects how the country moved right on the issue amid the rise of far-right alternatives in Germany (AFD) where Mertz occasionally cheated on.
However, on Mertz’s relatively different agenda, he likes to defend both Europe and NATO as well, converting Germany into a Merkel-era powerhouse, and again make it a European vy hope.
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A change in the concept of Europe?
Given the current “America-first” attitude of the Trump administration and the rise of far-right populism across the EU and the world, it is sometimes thought that Trump has declared the outcome of an election that showed strong right-wing interests as a “great day for Germany.”
Whether it’s great for Europe depends on having a continental vision in mind. Merkel is more right-wing than Merkel, but nevertheless defending a powerful Germany-led Europe, which could independently promote America’s influence, appearing to follow the steps of former French President Charles de Gare, who tried to abandon Europe from American domination.
In a recent speech at the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President JD Vance warned the continental government to lightly parry the European government’s retreat from “fundamental values, values shared with the United States,” defending far-right populism and policy on the continent. Elon Musk then posted on social platform X. Mega, Mega, Mega! ”
Despite the embarrassment and disappointment expressed by European leaders in such a statement, today’s suffering and divided Europe rarely claims it is a problem-free environment, nor does it support many of the continental leaders as well.
The rise of populism and nationalism across Europe raises a major issue, especially when it appears to be separated from its former ally and guardian, the United States, which now cannot be called “old Europe.”
The influence and authoritarian politics of Russia, growing in Central Europe, particularly Hungary and Slovakia, are powerful ultranationalist and far-right ideas in Austria, Germany, France and more, so Europe today is not a unified political, economic or cultural importance.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing political chameleonism and her admiration of both Musk and Trump, is also a problem for those looking for a unified Europe towards the political center.
Don’t keep me hanging, s’ilsvousplaît!
Less than a year later, the still popular Europeanist Frenchman Macron said, “We must clarify the fact that Europe today is deadly. …It can die, and it depends entirely on our choice.”
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In particular, Macron’s warning points to an unresolved question of what the European bloc wants. As long as the answer to that question remains unknown, Kissinger’s question is, “Should we even call Europe?”
And given the Trump administration’s new hostility towards many EU policies, including wars in Ukraine, foreign aid, regulation, and trade, there is an even more worrying interpretation for EU leaders, even if they “call Europe.”
