World's rules-based order 'no longer exists', Germany's Merz warns

The rules-based world order "no longer exists", German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned world leaders at a major security summit.

Opening the annual Munich Security Conference, he said "our freedom is not guaranteed" in an era of big power politics, and Europeans must be ready to make "sacrifice".

Merz also admitted that "a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States" - an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump's threat to Denmark's sovereignty by pledging to annex Greenland and his tariff policies towards other European nations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was listening to Merz and will deliver his own speech on Saturday, earlier spoke of a "new era in geopolitics".

Some 50 world leaders are expected to attend this year's conference, where European defence and the future of the transatlantic relationship will be discussed.

It comes at a time when US commitments to the Nato military alliance have been called into question. Trump's ambition to acquire Greenland has also been viewed by many European leaders as a watershed moment that has eroded trust with its biggest ally.

The Russia-Ukraine war, tensions between the West and China, as well as a potential Iran-US nuclear deal are also on the agenda at the annual gathering.

Referring to multiple warnings that the rules-based order was collapsing, Merz told the conference: "I fear we must put it even more bluntly: this order, however imperfect it was even at its best, no longer exists in that form."

He also said that "a rift, a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States. Vice-President JD Vance said this very openly here in Munich a year ago.

"He was right. The culture war of the MAGA [Make America Great Again] movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade."

Last year, Vance attacked Europe, including the UK, for policies on free speech and immigration. His speech triggered a year of unprecedented transatlantic tension.

But Merz did not write off the decades-long partnership, instead appealing directly to the US by saying "let's repair and revive transatlantic trust".

The German leader also revealed that "confidential talks" were ongoing with Macron on creating a joint European nuclear deterrent. He gave no further details.

France and the UK are the only two nuclear powers in Europe - but Germany and many other European nations have traditionally relied on the US nuclear umbrella within the Nato alliance for deterrence.

"We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it's going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Friday she planned to meet Rubio to discuss the US threats to seize Greenland - Denmark's semi-autonomous territory from its Nato ally.