Merkel Warns Europe Still Far From Global Leadership Goals

(MENAFN) Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Europe remains far from achieving its ambition of becoming the world’s leading science- and knowledge-driven region.

Speaking at a ceremony in the European Parliament, where the first recipients of the European Order of Merit were honored, Merkel argued that long-standing European goals are under strain and require renewed political and economic commitment.

She referred back to the 2000 Lisbon strategy, in which European Union leaders set out the goal of making Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy globally. However, she noted that this objective remains unfulfilled.

“If you go back to 2000, when in Lisbon the heads of government stated that Europe should be the strongest and most science-based continent in the world, and we are far from that goal, and there's a lot of work that you have to do in order to get closer to that promise,” she said.

Merkel stressed that economic strength is essential for sustaining broader policy priorities, including climate action and biodiversity protection, arguing that environmental and economic objectives must reinforce each other.

She also warned that Europe can no longer assume long-term stability, pointing to the ongoing war in Ukraine as evidence that traditional security assumptions have been disrupted.

According to her remarks, changing global dynamics—including evolving US security priorities—highlight increasing uncertainty in Europe’s strategic environment.

Merkel further cautioned that democratic systems are facing growing pressure, particularly from social media platforms where misinformation spreads rapidly and distorts public debate. She added that the expansion of artificial intelligence is intensifying these risks, calling for stronger regulation to protect democratic institutions and the reliability of information across the continent.

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