Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has slammed US interference in the German elections, calling it 'as drastic, dramatic and shameful as that from Moscow' as the AfD surges into second place.
Merz, who is set to be the next German Chancellor after his conservative CDU took 28.5 per cent of the vote, last night criticised election interference by the US after tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Trump administration voiced support for the AfD.
He also called for independence from the US, telling a roundtable discussion that he plans to 'strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we can achieve real independence from the US step by step'.