Merkel says Brexit, French poll changed her view on Europe

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was worth fighting for a stronger Europe, adding she changed her view on the European Union after France elected president Emmanuel Macron and Britain decided to leave the bloc.

Merkel's comments, made during a speech in the Baltic Sea resort town of Zingst two months before a federal election, underline her personal determination to deepen European integration if she is re-elected for a fourth term.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron shake hands during a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany on May 15, 2017. /VCG Photo

Calling EU membership one of Germany's biggest strengths, Merkel said last year's Brexit decision and the elections in France and the Netherlands, in which pro-European parties defeated populist candidates, had changed her perspective.

"For many people, including myself, something changed when we saw the Britons want to leave, when we were worried about the outcome of the elections in France and the Netherlands," Merkel told voters, some of whom wore straw hats with black-red-and-gold hatbands, the colors of the German flag.

The center-right chancellor admitted the EU was far from perfect and that Brussels sometimes was too bureaucratic.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets British Prime Minister Theresa May upon her arrival for the first day of the G20 economic summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 7, 2017. /VCG Photo

"But we have realized in the past few months that Europe is more than just bureaucracy and economic regulation, that Europe and living together in the European Union have something to do with war and peace, that the decades of peace after World War Two would have been completely unthinkable without the European Union," Merkel said to applause.

Many people in the past had taken the EU and its advantages for granted, such as the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to travel, said Merkel who grew up in communist East Germany.

"You don't have all this in many parts of the world. And that's why it is worth fighting for this Europe," Merkel said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel waits for the arrival of the next EU head of state for a meeting of European Union leaders at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany on June 29, 2017. /VCG Photo

"That's why one of our election placards is saying: If Europe is stronger, then Germany will be stronger. This is directly related."

Merkel said she is open to proposals of strengthening the single currency through the creation of a Eurozone finance minister, who would oversee a pooled budget for investments and transfers intended to help member states cushion downturns.

(Source: Reuters)