{"id":1488,"date":"2025-01-24T12:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T12:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/victory-means-restoring-territorial-integrity-merz-reaffirms-support-for-ukraine-ahead-of-elections\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T12:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T12:04:14","slug":"victory-means-restoring-territorial-integrity-merz-reaffirms-support-for-ukraine-ahead-of-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/victory-means-restoring-territorial-integrity-merz-reaffirms-support-for-ukraine-ahead-of-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Victory means restoring territorial integrity’ \u2014 Merz reaffirms support for Ukraine ahead of elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"'Victory<\/p>\n

Friedrich Merz, the leading contender to become Germany’s next chancellor, said that if elected, his strategic priorities would include a just end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Jan. 23.<\/p>\n

The statement comes after Merz\u2019s meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos<\/a> on Jan. 22.<\/p>\n

Merz is the chancellor candidate of the conservative CDU\/CSU alliance for the February parliamentary elections. The veteran politician has repeatedly criticized<\/a> sitting Chancellor Olaf Scholz for supposedly hesitant approach in the support of Ukraine and called for the provision of long-range Taurus missiles.<\/p>\n

Speaking about ending the war, Merz<\/a> stressed that Ukraine should “win the war<\/a>” and be free to choose its political and military alliances.<\/p>\n

“Victory means restoring territorial integrity with a democratically legitimate government exercising full sovereignty,” Merz added. The German politician nevertheless stressed that Germany<\/a> should not become a party to the war.<\/p>\n

Germany has become Ukraine\u2019s second largest military donor after the U.S., making it Kyiv\u2019s leading supporter on the European continent. Berlin\u2019s importance in the pro-Ukraine coalition is likely to grow as U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at reducing his country\u2019s involvement in the war.<\/p>\n

While Berlin has allocated 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in defense aid for Ukraine in 2025, some ministers of the outgoing coalition government called for an additional 3 billion ($3.15 billion), a step Scholz refuses to take without additional borrowing.<\/p>\n

The CDU\/CSU alliance, whose backing is crucial for any bill to pass the parliament since the ruling coalition lost majority, voiced support for the additional aid package but rejected abandoning the debt break, leading to a legislative impasse.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
With Scholz\u2019s government in shambles, conservative rival touts more decisive Ukraine strategy<\/div>\n
Editor\u2019s note: The article was updated to reflect Friedrich Merz\u2019s latest comments regarding the debt brake. For the second time in his life, Friedrich Merz is a step away from taking charge of Germany. Losing the fight to control the Christian Democratic Union in 2002 to future Chancellor Angela\u2026<\/div>\n
\"'VictoryThe Kyiv Independent<\/span>Martin Fornusek<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"'Victory<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

– https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/ukraine\/rss\/<\/p>\n

This article appeared on the websitekyivindependent.com
\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism
\nOriginal Content<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friedrich Merz, the leading contender to become Germany’s next chancellor, said that if elected, his strategic priorities would include a just end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Jan. 23. The statement comes after Merz\u2019s meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152,1],"tags":[2432,1318,1182,64,2397,2433,2435,43,2436,2434,977,2396,66,2],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kyivindependent","category-news","tag-victory","tag-ahead","tag-elections","tag-for","tag-integrity","tag-means","tag-merz","tag-of","tag-reaffirms","tag-restoring","tag-support","tag-territorial","tag-ukraine","tag-usersbook"],"yoast_head":"\n'Victory means restoring territorial integrity' \u2014 Merz reaffirms support for Ukraine ahead of elections - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/victory-means-restoring-territorial-integrity-merz-reaffirms-support-for-ukraine-ahead-of-elections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Victory means restoring territorial integrity' \u2014 Merz reaffirms support for Ukraine ahead of elections - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friedrich Merz, the leading contender to become Germany’s next chancellor, said that if elected, his strategic priorities would include a just end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Jan. 23. 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