In an effort to quell open rebellion in his party that could come with these bad outcomes, Merz has pushed to line up support in advance of the elections, with some success.
On Wednesday, all eight CDU state premiers released a public letter backing the chancellor and emphasizing, like Merz, the need for a stable German government given Europe’s increasingly volatile politics. Among the signatories was Hendrik Wüst, the premier of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the politician who has emerged as Merz’s most likely replacement.
“Our country will continue to need a stable and effective federal government with its own majority in the Bundestag,” the statement read. “Parliamentary elections will be held next year in Poland, Italy, Spain, and Greece, and presidential elections will take place in France. The outcomes are uncertain. This makes a stable and strong Germany in a united Europe all the more crucial.”
‘Connect more deeply with people’
Merz has already begun to show some nascent signs of how he will attempt to address his core problem: improving his approval ratings with voters, which at this point in his tenure are some of the lowest for any chancellor in Germany’s postwar history.
Merz, in short, appears to be giving in to more of what voters want even as he calls on them to sacrifice benefits as part of his reform drive to make pension, health insurance and long-term care schemes more sustainable.
Merz this week suggested he’s ready to yield to long-standing demands from state premiers to address soaring fuel costs — with diesel reaching a record €2.453 per liter on Thursday, up more than 50% from a year ago — after long opposing measures to bring down prices as too expensive. He has also softened his position on restricting early retirement for people who have worked and paid into the pension system for 45 years.