Merz: Old world order 'no longer exists,' great power rivalry returns

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has delivered a blunt message to European allies: the old world order "no longer exists" and has been replaced by a far more uncertain landscape shaped by great power rivalry and a renewed focus on national interests.

In a speech to the Munich Security Conference that amounted to a wake-up call for Europe, Merz warned that the international order that "rested on rights and rules" was gone.

"This order, as imperfect as it was even in its best days, no longer exists," he said.

"We have crossed the threshold into an era that is once again openly characterized by power and great power politics," said Merz in the opening address of the annual high-level conference on international security policy.

Merz said that the "most glaring expression" of this new reality was Russia's war on Ukraine.

But he also criticized China, saying the world's second-largest economy "systematically exploits the dependencies of others."

"It is reinterpreting the international order to suit its own purposes," he said of Beijing's strategy.

"If there was a unipolar moment after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is long gone. The US claim to leadership is challenged, perhaps even lost."