German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has delivered his opening speech at the Munich Security Conference.

He began by conveying his condolences to the 36 people injured in a car-ramming attack in the southern German city on Thursday.

He also pointed out that the conference was taking place at a "pivotal point" for Germany, which will elect a new parliament in a little over a week.

Steinmeier is a member of the ruling center-left Social Democrats, which have been polling at around 15%, in third place behind the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

"Let me be absolutely clear, Europe plays a pivotal role in our policy and will continue to do so," Steinmeier said. "Whatever its composition, the next federal government must conduct its work in a manner that respects and promotes European unity."

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the Donald Trump administration "has no regard for established rules," and that Europe will have to"accept it" and "deal with it."

"It is clear that the new American administration holds a world view that is very different from our own," he told the Munich Security Conference. "But I'm convinced that it is not in the interest of the international community for this world view to become the dominant paradigm."

"The absence of rules must not become the guiding principle of a new world order," he added to applause from participants.

The German head of state also voiced concerns about what he described as the "historically unprecedented concentration of technological, financial and political power" in Washington.

"I'm being frank … as a democrat it causes me great concern to see how a small elite group of business people has both the means and the power to rewrite a significant part of the liberal democracy playbook," he said.

"And I'm even more concerned when some of these business people openly express their contempt for our democratic institutions and norms."

"Democracy is not a business model," he added. "Democracy is not a playpen for disruption."