With his fresh democratic mandate and strong words on Europe and the US, it may well be Mr Merz that emerges as the loudest voice in Europe as the continent looks to navigate four more years of a Trump presidency that has proved massively disruptive in just its first month.
Friedrich Merz is set to become Germany’s next chancellor after early results show his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has won the country’s snap election.
French president Emmanuel Macron secured a coveted meeting with President Trump on Monday to become the first European leader in Washington since the US election.
But Mr Merz and Ms Weidel are unlikely to ever see eye-to-eye on how Germany should approach the United States and Europe, two defining issues for voters in Germany and across the continent.
Mr Merz has pledged that the CDU under his leadership will take tougher stance on immigration, which many analysts say has come under pressure to win back voters who have moved towards the AfD.
