(MENAFN) The Western-dominated global system is collapsing in real time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned, though the contours of the emerging order remain unclear.

Addressing an economic forum organized by Suddeutsche Zeitung on Monday, Merz declared that seismic shifts in global political and economic influence are forcing Germany and allied nations to choose between passivity and actively constructing a new international framework that transcends Europe.

"We do not yet know what it will look like in a few years, but we know quite clearly that the order we have known in the West over the last 80 years, and in the East over the last 35 years, is now coming to an end – on these very days, weeks, and months, today, the day we meet here," he stated.

The chancellor identified "a deep rift" that has recently arisen with the US "calls into question almost everything that we have considered right and necessary in transatlantic relations over the past decades."

Merz outlined mounting pressures confronting Germany, including the Ukraine conflict, China relations, and escalating trade tensions with the US—challenges he characterized as far exceeding mere tariff battles.

These warnings mirror the chancellor's previous assessments of declining Western influence. Last October, Merz conceded that the "appeal of what we call the free West is visibly declining."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly predicted the rise of a "multipolar world," condemning Western "unipolarity" and hegemonic pursuits. He has further maintained that "liberal globalization has outlived its usefulness."

MENAFN18112025000045017169ID1110360359