(20 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin – 20 Feb 2025
1. CDU party candidate for German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, arriving on podium, audience applauding
2. Mobile phone filming stage
3. Wide of Merz on podium, audience applauding
4. Audience applauding
5. Wide of Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner speaking on podium, standing next to Merz
6. Wegner welcoming Merz
7. SOUNDBITE (German) Friedrich Merz, opposition leader, CDU:
"And we’re seeing the consequences of Donald Trump being elected (US) president again every day now and almost every hour. I don’t want to talk about America for long. Maybe two or three sentences. But this is not the America that I used to know 40 years ago. Something is changing at the moment. And we may only really understand how profound these changes will be in a few years’ time."
8. Various of Merz on podium
9. SOUNDBITE (German) Friedrich Merz, opposition leader, CDU:
"Since yesterday at the latest, with Donald Trump’s comments on Zelenskyy and Ukraine, it has become clear what is happening here. The rift in the Atlantic is getting deeper and the question is whether or not we can still celebrate 70 years of the Federal Republic of Germany’s NATO membership with the Americans? The question is not answered."
10. Wide of Merz on podium
11. SOUNDBITE (English/German) Friedrich Merz, opposition leader, CDU:
"Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst. And the worst can be that we Europeans must now finally and definitively take the security of our European continent into our own hands, because the security guarantees of the Americans are no longer guaranteed."
12. Various of Merz on podium
13. SOUNDBITE (German) Friedrich Merz, opposition leader, CDU:
"I see a threat to our democracy. And again: look at America. One of the mother countries of democracy, where we’ve always believed that sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down, sometimes they go on a ‘say rampage’, but at some point they will always keep their democracy in the political centre. (That is) more in question today than ever. And that makes it all the more important that we maintain this stability, this political stability, in Europe and in Germany. And you have all that in your hands next Sunday."
14. Audience applauding
15. Merz on podium
16. Wide and camera zoom in to Merz on podium, audience applauding
STORYLINE:
German opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Thursday resumed his election campaign in Berlin ahead of Sunday’s vote.
In his speech, Merz raised concerns over the latest comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump on Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
German voters go to the polls Sunday to elect a parliament that will determine who runs the country for the next four years.
Germany has Europe’s biggest economy and is the EU’s most populous nation.
It is a leading member of NATO and the second-biggest weapons supplier to Ukraine.
The vote count is likely to be final early Monday, but it’s not clear what governing coalitions are possible.
Pre-election polling shows a mainstream conservative bloc with about 30% support and the far-right Alternative for Germany with around 20%.
Parties need to get 5% of the vote to win seats, so how many reach that threshold may determine the coalition’s makeup.
All mainstream parties say they won’t work with AfD.
AP Video shot by Fanny Brodersen
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