Friedrich Merz is criticised for betraying values of his Christian Democratic Union after refusing to condemn President Trump’s threats to EU ally over Iran

https://web.archive.org/web/20260311082826/https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/spain-accuses-germany-of-acting-like-a-vassal-to-united-states-f9zc28g8s

Spain has accused Germany’s leader of acting like a “vassal” of the United States after he failed to defend Madrid against criticism from President Trump.

“I can’t imagine Merkel or Scholz behaving like this,” Albares told the Cadena Ser radio station. “It corresponds neither to Konrad Adenauer nor to the European values on which this party [the CDU] was founded,” he said. “Now there’s a different leadership with different values.”

Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s deputy prime minister, said that Merz was one of several EU members “who have no idea how to manage this historic moment we’re living in”. She told Politico: “What Europe needs today is leadership, not vassals who pay homage to Trump.”