The favorite for the future German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, sharply criticized Donald Trump's administration and urged Europe to distance from Washington during a post-election panel airing on state broadcaster ARD.

"I am communicating closely with a lot of prime ministers, and heads of EU states and for me it is an absolute priority to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US, step by step," Merz said.

"I never thought that I would ever need to say something like that, on television, but after the latest statements made by Donald Trump last week, it is clear, that the Americans — at any case these Americans, this administration — mostly don't care about the fate of Europe one way or another," the CDU leader added.

He also criticized Trump confidant and tech billionaire Elon Musk for meddling in the German election campaign, saying that the "intervention from Washington were no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less brazen, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow."