It follows comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel which suggested her country should no longer rely on Britain and the United States after Brexit and the election of President Donald Trump. "I've experienced that in the last few days", Mrs Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, southern Germany. Europe should act "of course in friendship with the U.S., Great Britain, as good neighbors wherever possible, also with Russian Federation, also with other countries".
But in an apparent reference to Trump's open criticism of major North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and his refusal to back established language on fighting rising global temperatures, Merkel said: "The times when we could completely count on others, they are over to a certain extent".
The venue for Merkel's comments, a beer tent festooned with blue-and-white bunting set up by the chancellor's Bavarian allies in the Christian Social Union, showed the German leader in campaign mode ahead Germany's election in September.
"Where Germany can help, Germany will help, because Germany can only do well if Europe is doing well", she declared.
Where Europe's relationship with the USA during the Cold War and in its immediate aftermath had a strong emotional component, Merkel's comments suggest she now sees them as more "pragmatic and transactional", said Sylke Tempel, an expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations.
The American tycoon-turned-president backed a pledge to fight protectionism at the end of the G7 summit on Saturday, but refused to endorse the climate pact, saying he needed more time to decide. Merkel had described the climate change talks at the G7 meeting as "very hard, if not to say very dissatisfying".
Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn face tough questions on live TV
The Labour leader replied that he's "not a dictator" and that the manifesto was the result of consultation with his party. Home Secretary Amber Rudd suggested victory for Mr Corbyn would "absolutely" increase the risk of future atrocities.
It comes after Angela Merkel said Europe can no longer rely on America following Donald Trump's chaotic first foreign trip.
She also noted that Merkel is seeking a fourth term as chancellor in September, and does not want to be seen as being too close to an American president who is widely disliked in Europe.
"Let me say to her: the election result will have no impact on the EU".
Still, it would be unlike Merkel just to give up on dealing with Trump, Tempel said.
"This is going to be the most important negotiation that this country has embarked on for many decades". She also had to intervene this month with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Brussels to settle a dispute over visits to German troops stationed in Turkey.
Mr Trump described the trip as a "great success for America", despite controversy surrounding his trip to the Holocaust Museum, a huge arms trade deal with Saudi Arabai, a diplomatic incident following his description of Germany as "bad, very bad" and a childish push on the prime minister of Montenegro in order to get to the front of a photo op.
Comments