Europe must seek to “achieve independence” from the United States, Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said after his opposition conservatives won elections on Sunday, in a vote that also saw surging support for the far-right.

Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) narrowly wins national elections, setting the stage for Friedrich Merz to become the next chancellor. World

The results released by the electoral authority showed the conservative Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats winning a combined majority of seats in the national legislature after small parties failed to make the electoral threshold.