European countries should become more independent from the USA, stated German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday evening at the annual event of Deutsche Börse Group in Eschborn (Hesse), reports LETA citing DW.
"We need to become more sovereign and independent, especially in the field of technology. And yes, this also concerns the United States of America," said the chancellor.
"Transatlantic relations have changed, and no one in this room regrets it more than I do," noted Merz.
According to him, "nostalgia and memories of the good old days" will not help Europe.
Europe must become more sovereign and independent from the USA, especially in technological terms, and Germany can play an important role in this, emphasized the head of the German government.
"Artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, microelectronics, biotechnology, energy production, and climate-neutral transport — these are the topics we are actively working on and for which we want to radically improve conditions in Germany," he added.
"Over the past decades, we in Europe have missed out on enormous growth potential due to prolonged reforms, unnecessary restrictions on free entrepreneurship, excessive regulation, and striving for perfection where it is not needed," noted Merz.
In his opinion, because of this, Europeans are now not as strong economically as they could be.
In addition to greater sovereignty and independence, he named one of the most important tasks as the need for Europe to become "capable of defending itself with its own forces."
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