Merz not fucking about.
Germany's chancellor-in-waiting, didn't wait for the final results of his country's election on Sunday to herald a new era in Europe.
Declaring the US indifferent to this continent's fate, Friedrich Merz questioned the future of Nato and demanded Europe boost its own defences. Quickly.
This tone from the close US ally - and from Friedrich Merz who is known to be a passionate Atlanticist - would have been unimaginable even a couple of months ago.
It's a seismic shift. That may read like hyperbole, but what we are now experiencing in terms of transatlantic relations is unprecedented in the 80 years since the end of World War Two.
Big European powers have been shocked to the core by the Trump administration, which suggests it could revoke the security guarantees to Europe in place since 1945.
"I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show but, after Donald Trump's remarks last week... it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe," Friedrich Merz said during a post-election debate on Sunday.
"My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA," he added.
Merz hinted that the endeavour was so urgent that he was not sure on whether the transatlantic alliance leaders gathering for a summit in June "would will still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly".
Significantly, the forthcoming chancellor put Donald Trump's America on a par with Russia - widely viewed here as a security threat to Europe more broadly. "We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe," Merz said.
