The Transatlantic Pact: Merkel's blunt speech sparks fears of rupture in transatlantic pact

The Transatlantic Alliance - two worlds apart

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted that a major geostrategic shift may be under way when she told a Munich rally on Sunday that Europe must fight “for our destiny” in the wake of Brexit and an apparent US withdrawal from the world stage.

Speaking to some 2,500 supporters at an election rally in Munich, Merkel said European Union nations must remain united as they navigate Britain’s departure from the bloc and as disparities with the United States – on both policy and priorities – come into sharp relief.

"The era in which we could fully count on others is somewhat over, as I have noted in the past few days," Merkel said, in an apparent reference to her interactions with US and British leaders at a two-day G7 summit in Sicily that ended on Saturday.

"And so all I can say is that we, Europeans, must take our destiny into our own hands," she said.

Merkel's blunt speech sparks fears of rupture in transatlantic pact