Germany's Merz visits Brussels for talks with EU and NATO officials

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to arrive in Brussels on Friday for talks with top EU and NATO officials, marking his second foreign trip since taking office earlier this week.

Merz is scheduled to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

He visited Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday on his first official trip abroad as chancellor.

Merz has pledged that Germany's "voice in Europe and in the world" would be heard again.

As opposition leader, Merz had accused former chancellor Olaf Scholz of a passive approach to EU affairs and vowed to end Germany's "silence in European policy."

Merz has promised closer cooperation with France and Poland and a renewed push for European sovereignty in response to the foreign policy shift in the United States under President Donald Trump.

NATO talks are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine and the alliance's readiness to counter Russian threats. The visit comes ahead of next month's NATO summit in The Hague, the first to include Trump since his return to office in January.