Sawt Falasteen - German vote winner Merz seeks to build govt as Europe waits

After winning Sunday's election, the conservative Merz said a united Europe must build up its defences as US President Donald Trump has cast doubt over the future strength of the NATO alliance.

As the Ukraine war grinds on into a fourth year, he also pledged continued support for Kyiv even as Trump hopes to end the conflict directly with Russia, over the heads of Ukraine and Europe.

While the geopolitical challenges loom, Merz must forge a new coalition government at home, most likely with the vanquished Social Democrats (SPD) of the outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"The world isn't waiting for us," Merz said late Sunday after his CDU/CSU alliance claimed victory with 28 percent of the vote.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came second with a record 20 percent, driven by fears over immigration and with strongest gains in its heartland in the ex-communist east.

But Merz's CDU/CSU alliance and all other parties have pledged to keep it out of power behind a "firewall" of non-cooperation.

Other pressing challenges await Merz, with action needed on the ailing economy after two years of recession, driven in part by high energy prices sparked by the Ukraine war.

"The German economy needs a new government capable of acting very quickly," said BDI industry group president Peter Leibinger.

"The longer uncertainty persists, the more companies and consumers hesitate to invest."

- 'No illusions' -

European leaders have waited for Berlin to emerge from months of political paralysis as Trump has rattled the cage by signalling fading interest in securing the defence of the continent.

Speaking late Sunday, Merz said a united Europe must build up its own defences as he had "no illusions at all about what is coming out of America".

French President Emmanuel Macron said he looked forward to working with Merz for a "strong and sovereign Europe".

In a post on X, Merz also said Ukraine "must be part of peace negotiations" after Trump unsettled European allies by reaching out to Putin and calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator".

As European leaders gathered in Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion, Merz insisted that "Europe remains firmly by Ukraine's side".

In Sunday's election, Merz's CDU/CSU bloc handily defeated Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), who scored a historic low of 16 percent, and the Greens, who won 11 percent.

The conservatives are set to first enter talks with the Social Democrats, but without Scholz, who apologised for the "bitter" defeat but will stay on in a caretaker role until a new government is formed.

After a polarised campaign, Merz will have to enter a process of horse-trading on party policies and red lines to hammer out a platform for a future governing alliance.

"These are difficult starting conditions for a new German government, which is facing Herculean tasks in domestic and foreign policy," said Cornelia Woll of the Hertie School Berlin.

"One might hope that Germany will nevertheless be able to act quickly, so that it does not just have to watch how Trump and Putin shape the future."

- Far-right surge -

The campaign was dominated by polls signalling strong gains for the AfD, and massive counterprotests on the streets by those who oppose the anti-immigration party.

The heated campaign energised voters, with a turnout of 84 percent, the highest level since Germany's reunification in 1990.

The far-left Die Linke, after one of its leaders gave a rousing speech against the AfD that went viral online, won big gains with young voters to score over eight percent.

The smaller FDP, which sparked the breakup of the Scholz coalition last year, missed the five-percent hurdle to re-enter parliament, as did the "left-wing conservative" Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht.

AfD leader Alice Weidel on Monday again urged the mainstream parties to stop isolating them.

"They cannot exclude millions of voters," she said. "That is undemocratic. The firewall must go -- no functioning democracy has a firewall."

Trump ally Elon Musk, who has strongly backed the AfD, said in a message on X that "it's only a matter of time before AfD wins" -- a scenario that worries many German voters.

One of them, Joerg Seiffert, 69, a therapist in Berlin, said he was "very disappointed and frustrated by the rise of the AfD".

"The worst thing would be if the CDU were to join forces with the AfD after all," he said. "And I really don't know today whether it wouldn't actually happen."

C.Hamad--SF-PST