Europe must seek to “achieve independence” from the United States, Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said after his opposition conservatives won elections on Sunday, in a vote that also saw surging support for the far-right.

The centre-right CDU's leader has committed himself to taking a more active role in the bloc in the midst of what he says is declining transatlantic interest in Europe. View on euronews

Friedrich Merz is set to become Germany’s next chancellor after his centre-Right Christian Democratic Union [CDU] party won the election on Sunday night.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the second largest party in parliament after Sunday's election, said Germany's likely next chancellor would be held hostage by left-wing parties that would seek to loosen tough fiscal rules.

Merz had signalled openness to reforming Germany’s “debt brake” to finance badly needed infrastructure investments and a Europe-wide drive to increase defence budgets, even as his Christian Democrats (CDU) officially maintained their commitment to the rule in the run-up to Sunday’s vote.

Following the electoral success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the party's chairwoman, Alice Weidel, is already setting her sights on the next federal election. She stated on a programme featuring the main party leaders on German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF on Sunday evening that the winning conservative bloc could not form a