Merz warns US against election meddling over new European grant scheme

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has strongly pushed back against a newly unveiled million-dollar funding initiative from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, warning Washington against interfering in domestic European politics.

The friction follows the U.S. State Department's launch on Monday of a grant program valued at nearly $5 million, designed “to strengthen and develop democratic resilience, rule of law, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the defence of human rights in Europe.” First reported by the Financial Times, the scheme allows individual applicants to secure grants of up to $3 million.

However, the initiative's criteria have raised alarm in Berlin. The funding call states that beneficiaries should “address national sovereignty, migration, censorship, and lawfare challenges in line with shared political philosophy, law, and our common Western civilizational heritage.” Furthermore, the language appears to target the European Union's recent efforts to police online platforms, criticising how “supra-national institutions and governments are using state power to undermine fundamental principles of democratic self-government through overbroad and vague hate-speech laws and online content regulations that police and punish speech while suppressing political participation.”

The program comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to foster ties with European nationalist movements as part of its National Security Strategy. Links have burgeoned between Washington and Europe's far right, including Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Addressing reporters in Berlin on Wednesday, July 15, Merz was asked whether he viewed the program as legitimate advocacy or political interference.

“We do not interfere in American elections; we’ve always stuck to that,” the German Chancellor said. “Conversely, I don’t want the American government or government-affiliated institutions to interfere in German elections,” he added.

While the State Department's funding call does not explicitly designate political parties as eligible recipients, Merz raised the legal barriers preventing foreign money from entering German politics.

“It is illegal to finance political parties in Germany from abroad,” said the conservative leader. “And I assume that our friends around the world, in particular, will also abide by these legal rules that we have established in Germany,” he added.

When asked for comment on Merz’s remarks, and whether the program might fund civil society groups tied to the far-right AfD, a U.S. State Department spokesperson defended the initiative.

“The Trump administration remains committed to defending democracy and human rights around the world, including in Europe,” the spokesperson said. “Our programming in Europe aims to support our European allies in defending those rights and principles, along with their civilizational self-confidence and sovereignty from those who seek to undermine them.”

Senior U.S. diplomats have previously denied meddling in European domestic affairs, despite holding high-level meetings with far-right figures, including representatives of the AfD.

The controversy emerges at a highly sensitive time in German politics. The AfD is currently polling first nationally and stands a realistic chance of entering government for the first time at the regional level in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, which holds elections this September.

Early in Trump's second term, the AfD eagerly capitalised on international backing, embracing endorsements from billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk. The party also celebrated U.S. Vice President JD Vance's criticism of European political "cordons sanitaires" against the far right during the Munich Security Conference.

However, in recent months, the AfD leadership has publicly distanced itself from the American "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement. Party strategists have pivoted to focus on local issues in their eastern German strongholds, viewing the immediate political realities of the upcoming regional elections as their primary priority.

By Tamilla Hasanova