The challenges of Chancellor Friedrich Merz

BerlinChristian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz will be appointed the tenth chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany on Tuesday if, as expected, he wins the vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament. Merz will be sworn in at a sober ceremony in Berlin. Ten weeks after the Conservatives won the federal elections on February 23With Merz's arrival at the chancellery, six months of political uncertainty in Germany will come to an end, After the November breakup of the coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals led by Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) officially signed the 144-page coalition agreement entitled "Responsibility for Germany" in Berlin on Monday. This is the fifth coalition between conservatives and social democrats.

Merz and his ministers cannot be complacent: they will have to get to work quickly to meet the challenges ahead. "I am confident that starting tomorrow we will be able to govern our country in an energetic, planned, and trustworthy manner," Merz said when signing the coalition agreement.

The first challenge: skepticism

One of Merz's first tasks as chancellor will be to regain the trust of his fellow citizens. Germans are skeptical of both the new chancellor and the black-red coalition, named after the colors of the parties within it. Only 38% of Germans favor Merz as chancellor, and 56% reject him, according to the latest political barometer from the ZDF television network. Nearly half of those surveyed believe the coalition of conservatives and social democrats cannot provide solutions to the current problems.

Domestically, Merz will have to revive Germany's weak economy. to bring the country out of recession and the industrial crisis, combat the rise of the far right, curb illegal immigration, increase defense spending, and control public finances. According to the conservative leader, the first results of the new government should be noticeable before the summer.

Merz will also have to face the thorny question of what to do with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which will be the main opposition party in the new Bundestag. Germans are currently debating whether it is necessary to ban this party. After German domestic intelligence services labeled him an "extremist" and deemed him incompatible with the democratic order.

In foreign policy, the new chancellor will have to relaunch the long-stalled Franco-German engine of the European Union. The fact that Merz chose Paris as the destination for his first official trip as chancellor shows the importance he places on the relationship between the two countries, eighty years after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. "After years of internal bickering and navel-gazing under the previous government, there is now a need for German leadership that doesn't just observe European politics, but helps shape it," says Jana Puglierin, director of the Berlin office of the European think tank ECFR.

But Merz's eyes aren't just on Paris, but also on Warsaw and London, and he will continue to support Kiev after Russia's war of aggression, with or without Washington's support. "The black-red coalition could have clashes on specific issues, such as participation in a deterrent force for Ukraine. But there is a new strategic consensus between conservatives and social democrats: Germany must equip itself with military capacity and political resilience in the face of the greatest security crisis Europe has experienced since 1989." Puglierin.

The conservative leader had already managed, before taking office, to have the The German Parliament will approve constitutional changes to relax the debt brake., enshrined in the fundamental law, the German Constitution. This will give him great room for maneuver to implement the rearmament plan, revive the damaged German economy, and push through a multi-billion-euro infrastructure investment package announced by the conservatives and social democrats.

Merz, who considers himself deeply pro-European and Atlanticist, will have to redefine Germany's role in Europe and the world, following the shift in US President Donald Trump's foreign policy and in the face of the threat from Vladimir Putin's Russia. The conservative leader defends European strategic autonomy. Before becoming chancellor, he already proclaimed Germany's security independence from the United States and he expressed openness to expanding France's nuclear umbrella, given the uncertainty surrounding Washington's support for European defense following Trump's return to the White House and the threat from Moscow. At the head of an exporting powerhouse like Germany, Merz will also have to face the challenges of the global trade war launched by Trump and manage the relationship with the Chinese giant.