The Merz of Germany has already weakened – while it fights against the party’s dissatisfaction – Politico

“Mr. Merz, we believed in your political leadership. We have trusted you. And we fought for you,” said the letter. “But we are now asking the question: what? For a CDU who submits to the dominant left of the left?”

After years of weak government and divided under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, many European leaders had hoped that Merz would provide stronger German leaders in the European Union. Merz also promised to provide this leadership in the light of the challenges posed by American president Donald Trump, promising after his victory in the election of Snap of February 23 “to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really reach the independence of the United States”.

But the recent political difficulties of Merz have injured him, a weakened leader who can spend more time trying to repair his damaged image at home. Already, the conservative bloc of Germany falls in the polls while the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD) – which was to become the largest German opposition party when the new Bundestag is delighted – benefits from the new vulnerability of the incoming chancellor.

The latest reference survey of Germany Deutschlandrend shows support for the Merz conservative block, lowering three percentage points at 26% and at AFD winning by the same margin to achieve support of 24%, its strongest result. Perhaps even more worrying for Merz, only 25% of Germans approve its performance, down 10 percentage points compared to February, when the Conservatives won the national elections.

The recent Merz political problems began when he concluded a historic agreement with the SPD and the Greens to release up to 1 Billion of new Defense expenses up to 1 Billion and infrastructure during the next decade, including 100 billion euros for the Green Transition of Germany. While the dramatic decision of Germany to reverse more than 15 years of self -imposed austerity has attracted approval abroad, many domestic conservatives have discreetly stimulated quietly, believing that Merz – which had preached a conservative gospel of budgetary discipline before the elections – had given its central opponents on the left the expenses which they had long defended.

This decision also opened him to Ferocious AFD attacks, whose leaders accused Merz of betraying his own voters. “What do you defend, Mr. Merz?” AFD leaders, Tino Chrupalla, in Parliament, asked. “To date, you have the MRNA of the SPD implanted in you.”