Rede von Bundeskanzler Merz beim World Economic Forum am 22. Januar 2026 in Davos

President Brende,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The calm and peace up here on the "magic mountain" in Davos is at stark contrast to a world whose old order is unravelling at breathtaking pace.

Let me share with you how the new German Government is looking at these tectonic shifts, and how we are addressing them. These shifts have the most profound ramifications for our freedom, for our security and for our prosperity.

In these weeks and months we are witnessing: A new era has already begun.

Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has been the most drastic expression so far.

But change runs much deeper. China, with strategic foresight, has worked its way into the ranks of the great powers.

The United States' global pole position is being challenged. And Washington reacts by radically reshaping its foreign and security policy.

We have entered a time of great-power politics. The international order of the past three decades - anchored in international law - has always been imperfect. Today, its very foundations have been shaken.

This new world of great powers is being built on power, on strength and when it comes to it, on force. It is not a cozy place.

We do not have to accept this new reality as fate. We are not at the mercy of this new world order.

We do have a choice. We can shape the future. To succeed, we must face harsh realities and chart our course with clear-eyed realism.

Two days ago, Mark Carney said in this hall from this place: "We must no longer rely only on the power of our values. We must also recognize the value of our power."

I share that view. And when I look into this room, into this hall, I want to say: Most of us share it. And that is a good starting point.

European Friends, if I may say so: Our power today rests on three pillars: our security, our competitiveness, and our unity.

First, we must invest massively in our ability to defend ourselves. And we are doing this.

Second, we must rapidly make our economies competitive. And we are doing this.

Third, we must stand closer together, among Europeans and among like-minded partners. We are doing this.

As we forge ahead, we must never forget one thing: A world where only power counts is a dangerous place - first for small states, then for the middle powers, and ultimately for the great ones.

I do not say this lightly. In the twentieth century, my country, Germany, went down this road to its bitter end. It pulled the world into a black abyss.

So let us bear in mind: Our greatest strength remains the ability to build partnerships and alliances amongst equals based on mutual trust and respect.

I remind you, after 1945, the United States of America inspired us Germans to embrace this logic. On this foundation, NATO became the strongest alliance in history. That is why we hold true to this idea.

Now, in recent days, the United States Administration has vehemently demanded greater influence on Greenland. Washington has argued that this is imperative to counter security threats in the High North.

We welcome that the United States is taking the threat posed by Russia in the Arctic seriously. This threat is itself an expression of great power rivalry.

It is aimed both at Europe and the United States. We experience it daily in hybrid attacks in the Baltic Sea and in Russia's winter war against the people of Ukraine.

We share the conviction that, as European NATO allies, we must do more to secure the High North as NATO. This is a common transatlantic interest.

Germany is doing just that. We are doing it in the framework of NATO. And we will do more.

Our neighbours, partners in Europe, including Denmark and the people of Greenland can count on our solidarity. We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the north from the threat posed by Russia.

We will uphold the principles on which the transatlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We support talks between Denmark, Greenland and the United States on the basis of these principles. I have discussed this with President Trump, Prime Minister Fredriksen, Secretary General Mark Rutte and others in these days. The aim of these talks is to agree for closer cooperation amongst allies in the High North and beyond.

It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction. I welcome President Trump's remarks from last night. This is the right way to go.

This ist he right way, because any threat to acquire European territory by force would be unacceptable.

And, ladies and gentlemen, new tariffs would also undermine the foundations of transatlantic relations.

If they are put in place, Europe's answer would be united, calm, measured and firm.

As we proceed, we are guided by a clear compass.

Firstly, in the new age of great powers, Europe must stand together resolutely and sovereignly.

And secondly, we should not give up on NATO.

At the historic NATO Summit in the Hague last June, we created the material prerequisites for this. Europe will invest hundreds of billions of Euros in its security. It was a remarkable transatlantic success!

Now we must repair the trust on which the Alliance is built. Europe knows how precious it is. We feel deeply that it can be the United States' strongest competitive advantage in an age of great powers. Democracies do not have subordinates. They have allies, partners and trusted friends.

Let me paraphrase this in German:

Wir haben die Schwelle hinein in eine neue Welt der Großmächte überschritten. In dieser Welt weht ein rauer Wind. Diese Welt wird uns Härten und Gefahren zumuten. Das spüren Sie, das spüren wir alle. Machen wir uns aber auch bitte klar: Dieser Welt sind wir nicht ausgeliefert. Wir können sie gestalten. Lassen Sie uns deshalb besonnen, schöpferisch und mutig zugleich auf unsere eigenen Stärken setzen. Und Genau das tun wir.

Wir investieren massiv in die eigene Sicherheit. Wir machen unsere Wirtschaft wieder wettbewerbsfähig. Und wir halten in Europa zusammen. Das wird uns helfen, den Zumutungen dieser neuen Zeit besser zu trotzen. Vor allem wird es uns neue Türen öffnen und neue Chancenermöglichen.

Für unsere Souveränität werden wir mit Festigkeit eintreten. Und unsere Nachbarn in Europa können sich auf unsere Solidarität verlassen.

Lassen Sie uns bitte auch bei allem Frust und Ärger der letzten Monate die transatlantische Partnerschaft nicht voreilig abschreiben. Und das ist kein wohlfeiler Verweis auf das "Prinzip Hoffnung". Nein, wir Europäer, wir Deutsche wissen, wie kostbar das Vertrauen ist, auf dem die NATO fußt. Im Zeitalter der Großmächte werden auch die USA auf dieses Vertrauen angewiesen sein. Es ist ihr und unser entscheidender Wettbewerbsvorteil.

Ich sage es auf Deutsch:

Autokratien mögen Untertanen haben, Demokratien haben Partner und verlässliche Freunde. An diesem Satz wollen wir uns orientieren. Wir werden hartnäckig dafür arbeiten, dass dies nicht in Vergessenheit gerät.

Under my leadership, the new German Government set two goals. First, Germany has to regain economic strength. Second, we want to make Europe a key player again - in global politics, economically and particularly in defence. We need to be able to defend ourselves - and we need to do so fast.

These goals are complementary. Economic competitiveness and the ability to shape global politics are two sides of the same coin. Germany can only lead the way in Europe if we are economically strong. And Europe's geopolitical influence and our defence capability largely depend on the continent's economic momentum.

Ladies and gentlemen, our policies now need to be exceptionally ambitious and courageous. We must make progress in four areas simultaneously.

We must continue supporting Ukraine in its fight for a just peace. We must become capable of defending ourselves on our own in Europe. We want to reduce dependencies that currently make us vulnerable. And fourth, we want to ensure that our economy can tap into its full potential for innovation and growth.

This will only work, if we work together as ONE European Union. And be assured: Germany pledges to take a special responsibility here.

That is why we decided right at the start of my tenure to increase Germany's defence spending up to five percent of GDP. That is a huge increase.

Boosting our military capabilities means to assert our sovereignty. By systematically strengthening our defence, we are reducing our economic and technological dependencies.

There is no room for isolationism and protectionism in this agenda. Instead, we are talking about strategically coordinated ties worldwide. Europe's trade ambitions are cristal clear.

We want to be the alliance offering open markets and trade opportunities.

We want to strengthen the rules for fair trade and level playing field. Europe must be the anti-thesis to state-sponsored, unfair tradepractices, raw-material-protectionism, techprohibition and arbitrary tariffs. Tariffs again have to be replaced by rules, and those rules need to be respected by trading partners.

On this, the EU is making great progress. Mercosur has been signed. And by the way, I deeply regret that the European Parliament has put another obstacle in our way yesterday. But rest assured: We will not be stopped. The Mercosur-deal is fair and balanced. There is no alternative to it if we want to have higher growth in Europe. And most likely this agreement will provisionaly be put in place.

In a few days' time, the President of the European Commission will travel to India to establish the principles of a free trade agreement between the subcontinent and the EU. I was in India a week ago and I have no doubt whatsoever that the era of great powers presents an opportunity for all of us and for all countries that favour regulations above arbitrary rule and see greater benefit in free trade than in protectionism and isolationism.

And Europe is joining forces with new partners, as you do see in our efforts to finalise trade agreements with Mexico and Indonesia.

In order to make best use of these new partnerships, we need to put our house in order at home. We are aware of those problems. Both Germany and Europe have wasted incredible potential for growth in recent years by dragging feet on reforms and unnecessarily and excessively curtailing entrepreneurial freedoms and personal responsibility.

We are going to change that now. Security and predictability take precedence over excessive regulation and misplaced perfection.

We must reduce bureaucracy substantially in Europe. The single market was once created to form the most competitive economic area in the world. But instead, we have become the world champion of over-regulation.

That has to end. I have therefore mobilized EU leaders to convene for a special summit on February 12, at which we intend to set the course.

Giorgia Meloni and myself, we have formulated a set of proposals we would like to see addressed. Amongst them are some new ideas: We propose an emergency brake for bureaucracy, discontinuity for legislative work, a modernised EU budget putting competitiveness center stage. We want to have a fast, dynamic Europe and a serviceoriented administration.

I will insist that rapid progress be made, including on the capital markets union. We cannot allow our European champions to continue being dependent on capital markets outside Europe. Instead, they should be able to grow in Europe, they should be able to be financed in Europe and they should be able to go public in Europe.

At home, we are making Germany competitive this again as a place for business and investment both in industry and our many small and medium-sized enterprises. Let me tell you: The so called "Mittelstand" in Germany has to be reckoned with. We are providing more targeted support to innovators, removing obstacles from their path and making it easier for them to access capital markets.

We have reduced energy costs. The focus for our electricity supply is on a combination of renewable energies, storage and modern gas power plants. In the coming years, you will see massive investments in state-of-the-art power plants, power lines and heat supply.

We will speed up efforts to expand and modernise infrastructure. Five hundred billion euro have been made available for this purpose.

At the heart of our efforts lies digital transformation. Artificial intelligence requires industrial scale. Germany has one of the world's largest pools of industrial data. That is just one reason why we are investing in highperformance AI gigafactories, speeding up the expansion of data centres and creating the digital infrastructure for a competitive AI economy in Germany.

Our research and technology policy is guided by a new High-Tech Agenda. We are global leaders in so many areas of cutting-edge research. We want to ensure that innovation gets to market more consistently, building industries of the future.

And whoever wants to invest in the future - let me be clear: you will find a very strong partner in Germany. We want to be a leading investment location for global capital. Our policy is to mobilise private-sector investments in infrastructure, high-tech and industrial transformation - with clear rules, strong institutions and long-term reliability.

Now, Ladies and gentlemen,

Let the headlines of the day not confuse you. I urge you: Look at the bigger picture:

The world around us is changing at unprecedented pace. The direction it takes must worry us. A world of great powers is a new reality.

Europe has gotten the message. Germany has as well gotten the message. We must and will live up to these challenges.

My Government will do its homework and pursue an ambitious reform agenda revolving around security, competitiveness and European unity.

Let us be inspired by what is maybe the most important lesson of enlightenment: Our fate is in our hands. It is in our responsibility and our freedom to shape it.

This historic task lies ahead of us. Germany wants to play a key role in mastering it.

Many thanks for your attention.