Rust [Germany], November 16 (ANI): 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 Euro News.

Merz stressed that the guiding principles of the European model remain valid amid what he called the challenge of authoritarian leadership, Euro News reported.

In this European Union, he said, member states are distancing themselves from 'dogmatic socialism and communism, from compartmentalised markets, and... from an authoritarian style of leadership.'

Warning of the risks of ceding space to nationalist forces, Merz said, 'If we don't get it right now, if we leave it to the nationalists to shape this Europe and basically abandon it, then one day we will have to be told that we have failed history.'

He also noted that the EU rejects those 'who believe that they can guarantee the security and prosperity of their own people with closed markets.'

The Chancellor also criticised excessive regulation in Brussels. He argued that the EU single market was never designed to operate under 'a flood of regulations that basically only expresses mistrust towards citizens and companies.'

He insisted that European politics must be based on 'trust in freedom, in openness, in the ability of people to shape their future on their own responsibility in a liberal, tolerant, and cosmopolitan way,' Euro News reported.

The Junge Union event has historically been a power base for Merz, but the chancellor faced resistance from within his youth wing over the government's proposed pension reform currently before parliament.

Johannes Winkel, leader of the conservative youth organisation, said, 'This pension package, with its additional costs of EUR120 billion ($139 billion) beyond what was agreed in the coalition agreement, must not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.'

Merz, 70, responded that although he shared some concerns, he must balance the needs of different generations.

'I have to ensure that we remain structurally capable of winning a majority in the Federal Republic of Germany,' he told delegates, adding, 'A Federal Chancellor's job is to balance the interests.'

During the conference, Merz reiterated that there would be no cooperation between his CDU party and the far-right AfD.

'Not because there is a firewall--forget that word! We are worlds apart from this party,' he said, stressing, 'We have nothing in common with them.'

Euro News reported that he drew clear ideological boundaries as AfD continues to gain support in parts of Germany. (ANI)