BERLIN — Friedrich Merz has yet to begin his chancellorship, but he’s already in big political trouble.
The incoming leader is facing slumping approval ratings and a barrage of criticism from parts of his conservative base who believe he is yielding to the will of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) during coalition talks. Merz’s critics say he is failing to make good on pre-election vows to move his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) sharply to the right in key policy areas.
The dissent within the ranks has spilled out into the open in recent days after members of the conservative bloc’s youth organization in the city of Cologne wrote a letter to Merz venting their dismay.
“Mr. Merz, we believed in your political leadership. We trusted you. And we have fought for you,” the letter read. “But we are now asking the question: for what? For a CDU that submits to the left-wing mainstream?”
After years of weak, divided government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, many European leaders had hoped Merz would provide stronger German leadership within the European Union. Merz too has vowed to provide that leadership in light of the challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, vowing after his victory in the Feb. 23 snap election “to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.”
But Merz’s recent political difficulties have left him injured, a weakened leader who may have to spend more time attempting to repair his damaged image at home. Already Germany’s conservative bloc is dropping in the polls while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — set to become Germany’s biggest opposition party when the new Bundestag convenes — is benefiting from the incoming chancellor’s new vulnerability.
Germany’s latest benchmark Deutschlandtrend poll shows support for Merz’s conservative bloc dropping three percentage points to 26 percent and the AfD gaining by the same margin to reach 24 percent support, its strongest-ever result. Perhaps even more concerning for Merz, only 25 percent of Germans approve of his performance, down 10 percentage points from February, when the conservatives won the national election.
Merz’s recent political problems began when he reached a historic agreement with the SPD and the Greens to unleash as much as €1 trillion in new spending for defense and infrastructure over the next decade, including €100 billion for Germany’s green transition. While Germany’s dramatic move to reverse more than 15 years of self-imposed austerity drew approval abroad, many domestic conservatives quietly smarted, believing that Merz — who had preached a conservative gospel of fiscal discipline ahead of the election — had given his center-left opponents the debt-fueled spending they’d long advocated.
The move also opened him up to fierce attacks from the AfD, whose leaders accused Merz of betraying his own voters. “What do you actually stand for, Mr. Merz?” one of the AfD’s leaders, Tino Chrupalla, asked in parliament. “By now, you have the mRNA of the SPD implanted in you.”
Germany ‘will suffer massive damage’
Much of the criticism of Merz is coming from his conservative bloc’s youth organization, the Young Union.
Johannes Winkel, the chair of the organization who also also sits on the CDU board, threatened to vote against a coalition agreement with the SPD that doesn’t deliver on core conservative policies. He demanded a crackdown on migration and the restoration of economic competitiveness by cutting regulation and bureaucracy.
“If we enter into a coalition without the overdue and promised policy change, the country will suffer massive damage,” he said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily.
The youth organization in Cologne demanded that Merz follow through on his pre-election pledges to reject asylum seekers at the border, reject tax increases, and institute “a massive reduction” in bureaucracy, all policies the SPD has resisted to varying degrees.
“If this course is not corrected immediately, you will not only jeopardize the CDU’s profile — you will destroy the trust of the people and the commitment of its members,” the conservative youth wrote.
The problem for Merz, however, is that he doesn’t have much leverage to force the SPD to bend to the will of conservatives. His massive spending plan has already given the SPD much of what it wanted, and having ruled out an alliance with the AfD, he has no other viable coalition partner.
In recent days Merz has been trying to placate his dissatisfied base, addressing their core concerns as Trump’s tariffs wreak havoc in Europe and beyond.
“The situation on the international equity and bond markets is dramatic and threatens to get worse,” Merz told Reuters. “It’s more important than ever for Germany to restore its competitiveness. That must be at the heart of coalition talks.”
But as Europe faces its most challenging moment since the Cold War, it’s far from clear Merz will emerge from those talks with the political capital he needs to rise to the occasion.
The post Germany’s Merz weakened already — as he battles party dissatisfaction appeared first on Politico.
