Merkel calls her policies ‘independent’, dismisses Trump’s criticism

July 11, 2018
Brussels:German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday reacted to a statement made hours earlier by US President Donald Trump here accusing Germany of becoming “a captive to Russia”.

Merkel, on arrival for a NATO summit, dismissed Trump’s statement accusing her country of being “totally controlled by Russia”, in reference to Moscow’s gas supplies to Germany, Efe news reported.

Merkel called Germany an independent country and that its foreign policy lacked any foreign interference. “I experienced the Soviet occupation of one part of Germany myself. It is good that we are independent today,” she said.

Merkel added that Germany was the third biggest provider of NATO troops, NATO infrastructure and for many years, one of the most actively engaged NATO countries in Afghanistan.

She pointed out that Afghanistan was the first time in NATO’s history during which the Atlantic Charter’s Article 5 had been invoked.

The above article enshrines the Atlantic alliance’s principle of collective defence whereby each member state must consider an armed attack against one member state as an armed attack against all.
(IANS)