Merkel Says EU Elections to Be Ultimate Test of European Unity

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe will face a test of unity in next year’s continent-wide parliamentary elections, as she called for European Union nations to work together to overcome challenges including migration and trade.

Calling the 28-member bloc’s struggle with migration a “much larger” challenge than the euro-area debt crisis of earlier this decade, Merkel called on the EU to rely on its strength in the global market place as a united force.

“I’m grateful that we’re a part of Europe and EU trade negotiations take place for all European countries -- and we all have a joint currency, so that you can’t speculate against any one currency,” Merkel told lawmakers in the Bundestag in Berlin on Wednesday.

European Parliament elections next May are looming as a key test of the bloc’s future direction, with anti-migration, EU-skeptic forces in countries including Italy and Hungary facing off against the liberal establishment as espoused by Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net

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