During his election campaign, Friedrich Merz complained frequently that Germany's closest foreign policy partnership — with France — had been neglected under the government of his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, as had relations with Poland.

Together, the three countries form what is called the Weimar Triangle, which played an important role years ago but has since been relegated to the sidelines.

Merz wants to change this, and his first foreign trips are to Paris and Warsaw.

"When it comes to Franco-German relations in particular, there are many specific issues that remained unaddressed under Scholz and Macron because their personal chemistry didn't really click," says Henning Hoff from the German Council on Foreign Relations. "That could now improve with Merz."

However, the conflicts of interest between Germany and France are as great as ever. Berlin, for example, is much more committed to free trade and has different priorities in energy policy. President Emmanuel Macron is also struggling domestically.

Stefan Seidendorf, deputy director of the Franco-German Institute, warns against overemphasizing the relationship between the two people at the top: "The special thing about this Franco-German relationship is that it is much more than just two people who like or dislike each other, but over the many years they have tried to get out of the coincidences of two people and expand it," he told DW following the Macron-Merz meeting.

Reviving the Weimar Triangle

After years under the right-wing nationalist PiS government, Poland once again has a pro-European leadership under former EU Council President Donald Tusk, which also eases relations with Germany. The problem here could be Germany's plans for stricter border controls to combat irregular migration.

"There is a great danger," says Hoff, "that the new German government will overdo it and introduce too many controls."

This could also influence the outcome of the upcoming Polish presidential election, in which Tusk's candidate is currently seen to be lagging behind.

Transatlantic relations revisited

Merz has doubts as to whether the US under President Donald Trump will continue to feel bound by NATO's commitment to provide military assistance. Therefore, he said on election night, the Europeans must "achieve real independence from the US."

He is striving to establish close defense policy cooperation between European countries.

But politically, the EU is increasingly divided. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for example, maintains good contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and refuses to support Ukraine, while Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is politically close to Donald Trump. In other ways, too, previous momentum has evaporated in the EU. Right-wing populists are on the rise almost everywhere, and European integration is no longer a sure-fire thing.

No one is creating more challenges for German foreign policy at the moment than Donald Trump. Alongside doubts about US security guarantees, import tariffs are currently the biggest problem for Berlin. As an export nation, the tariffs are hitting Germany particularly hard, especially since the German economy has been in recession for more than two years.

Because of this vulnerability, the German government is looking to de-escalate the situation despite its anger at Trump. The coalition agreement states: "We are aiming for a free trade agreement with the US in the medium term; in the short term, we want to avoid a trade conflict and are working to reduce import tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic." 

Talks with Trump, but no plans for a visit

In fact, Friedrich Merz is a transatlanticist through and through. For ten years, he was chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke, a non-partisan organization for the cultivation of American-German relations. However, with the start of Donald Trump's second term in office, Merz's belief in a close German-American partnership was severely shaken. "I am shocked by Donald Trump," he said after Trump blamed Ukraine for the war.

The transatlantic rift between the US and Germany became even deeper after members of the Trump administration openly sided with the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party that the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has now classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist." A phone call with Trump is planned for Thursday. Merz said on ZDF television that "we will talk openly with each other," but that any interference in domestic political matters will not be tolerated. There are still no plans for the new German chancellor to visit Washington.

Ukraine war: Will Merz send Taurus missiles?

Donald Trump's efforts to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine have turned the Europeans into mere spectators. Direct negotiations are taking place between the Americans and the Russians. If a peace agreement is reached, which could amount to dictating peace to Ukraine, the Germans and other European countries would likely only be left to secure peace.

The German governing coalition wants to continue to support Ukraine. However, how exactly the military aid will continue remains unclear. As opposition leader, Merz had advocated for the delivery of German long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. This was always rejected by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz because he feared that Germany would be drawn into the war with Russia. No final decision has yet been reached.

Is Netanyahu welcome in Germany?

As a consequence of having perpetrated the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were murdered at the hands of Germans, Israel's security is of particular concern to the German government. On the other hand, German politicians have repeatedly criticized Israel's crackdown on Hamas in the Gaza Strip as disproportionate.

The German government is also caught in a predicament because of the arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court has issued for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on suspicion of war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Germany supports the tribunal and would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if he were to visit Germany. However, Friedrich Merz has reiterated that this would not happen under his leadership as chancellor.

Could domestic policy cripple Merz?

On the whole, says Henning Hoff from the German Council on Foreign Relations, the new government's somewhat bumpy start will not undermine its foreign policy.

At the most, "however, there is a risk that the government as a whole is not completely stable, and that the chancellor will have to focus more on domestic policy issues and will then have less time for what appears to be his main concern, namely setting the tone in foreign and European policy."

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.