Rust, Nov. 16 -- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday underlined Europe's strategic importance and distanced himself from the far-right AfD, telling members of his party's youth wing that "the future of the world is created in Europe," Euro News reported.

Addressing the Junge Union's Germany Day conference in Rust, Baden-Wurttemberg, Merz said the debate was not limited to the European Union as an institution but to a broader political idea shaping coexistence across the continent.

"We are not just looking at ourselves. We are not just looking at the European Union. We are looking at a political model. We are looking at a principle. We are looking at fundamental decisions on how we want to live together," he said, according to E...