Friedrich Merz, the unpopular chancellor
After 100 days in the German chancellery, the conservative leader has less support than his predecessor Olaf Scholz.
BerlinGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz has not been able to enjoy a honeymoon with his compatriots in the 100 days he has been in power. Merz did not get off to a good start to his term. He needed two votes to be elected chancellor on May 6th—something unprecedented in Germany—following a surprising defeat in the first vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament.
Merz has not had the initial grace period that many politicians usually enjoy when they come to power. 59% of Germans are dissatisfied with the chancellor's work, according to a survey by the Insa institute conducted by the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. Only 30% are satisfied with his work. The remaining respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
The conservative chancellor is more unpopular than his predecessor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz. After 100 days in office, 43% of Germans declared themselves satisfied with Scholz's work in the chancellery in March 2022, while 41% declared themselves dissatisfied.
Merz's government, formed by a coalition between the conservative CDU-CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), also receives a negative rating from 60% of respondents, while 27% are satisfied with the government's work.
Compared to Scholz's traffic light coalition—formed by the SPD, the liberal FDP, and the Greens—Merz's government is doing somewhat better than the previous one. 28% consider the current government's work better than that of the traffic light coalition, named after the colors of the parties that comprised it. 24% rate it as worse. 38% see no significant differences. The traffic light coalition failed due to its constant internal bickering.
Half-delivered promises, half-fulfilled promises
Upon taking office, Merz promised to revive Germany's ailing economy, pull Germany out of recession and the industrial crisis, combat the rise of the far right, and stem illegal immigration. The coalition managed to pass the financial package for record investments in infrastructure and defense relatively quickly and agreed to toughen immigration policy. But the failure to elect three new judges to the Constitutional Court has caused tensions in the governing coalition.
Merz has also failed to stem the tide. the advance of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is gaining ground and, with 26%, is ahead in voting intentions of the CDU-CSU, which fell to 24%, according to a Forsa survey.
"People should notice in the summer that we are making progress," said Merz in her first government statement in the Bundestag. However, this is not the case. Only one in four Germans (23%) are optimistic that the chancellor is taking the right steps for the future, according to an Ipsos survey. More than half of those surveyed (53%) are pessimistic, while approximately 21% are undecided.
The real test of the coalition between conservatives and social democrats is yet to come. In September, the budget will be approved in the Bundestag, and the issue of the Constitutional Court judges must be resolved.
On the other hand, Merz has been more active in foreign policy than Scholz. Following the tradition of other German chancellors, his first trip was to Paris, followed by Warsaw. The chancellor has a better relationship with French President Emmanuel Macron than Scholz., although relations with Warsaw have suffered due to hot returns of asylum seekers at the common border, which has led Donald Tusk's government to temporarily reinstate border controls with Germany.
His meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump went better than expected, but he has also suffered setbacks, such as the inconsequential ultimatum that the chancellor issued to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the beginning of his term. However, with Merz's arrival at the chancellery, the E3 group, made up of Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, has been reactivated.
Regarding the Palestinian issue, Merz has raised the tone with Israel, although Germany does not plan to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, unlike London and Paris, which will recognize it in September. The German chancellor has been criticized within his own party for hisPartially suspend the sale of arms to Israel that could be used in the Gaza StripThe decision was met with astonishment by the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's Bavarian sister party, since it had not been agreed upon with them.