section_path: Political positions/Foreign policy/General stance
section_name: General stance
paragraph_text: General stance
  
  Merz is a staunch supporter of the European Union, NATO and the liberal international order. In 2018, he described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced transatlanticist, and a German open to the world" and said that "I stand for a cosmopolitan Germany whose roots lie in Christian ethics and the European Enlightenment and whose most important political allies are the democracies of the West. I gladly use this expression again: The democracies of the West". He advocates a closer union and especially closer relations between Germany and France. In 2018, he co-authored an article in defence of the European project, which among other things called for "an army for Europe".
  
  Merz is known for hawkish stances on authoritarian countries, in particular Russia and China. In 2023, Merz called for Germany to involve key allies, especially France, in negotiations with China as part of a rethinking of ties with the country that reflected a global "paradigm shift" in security and foreign policy. He called China "an increasing threat to security", and criticized Scholz's decision to allow China's COSCO to take a stake in the port of Hamburg.
  
  In February 2025, Merz said that Germany would negotiate with France and the United Kingdom about extending their nuclear umbrella to Germany. Merz said, "We need to have discussions with both the British and the French—the two European nuclear powers—about whether nuclear sharing, or at least nuclear security from the U.K. and France, could also apply to us". The move to reconvene the old Bundestag were criticized. Merz received international support for the financial package from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.