Germany's opposition conservatives win election while the far-right AfD bloc surges to 2nd place. Merz vows EU independence from US as coalition talks loom, leaving Scholz as caretaker.
Conservatives’ expected victory comes despite a historically strong showing by far-right AfD
At the center of this political drama stands Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany’s largest opposition party, who is determined to emerge victorious in the upcoming elections
Greek Prime Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived in the German capital for a European People's Party (EPP) summit, where he met separately with Merz and EP President Roberta Metsola
If elected chancellor, Friedrich Merz would face a sputtering economy and the prospect of fresh U.S. tariffs