Is Friedrich Merz floundering already?

Friedrich Merz promised to do things differently. Ahead of the country’s federal election last month, the likely next chancellor of Germany said he had a ‘clear plan for Germany’s economic future’. From day one in office, he wanted to be seen to enact the change so many Germans had voted for. But, held to ransom by the election’s losers, his centre-right Union is already being forced into so many compromises that Merz may turn out to be just as ineffective and unpopular as his predecessor, Olaf Scholz.

Merz wasn’t off to a bad start. Okay, most Germans tell pollsters that they are sceptical that he’ll be a good chancellor, but they are open to persuasion. Surveys indicate that the wishes of the majority appear to be aligned with his: less illegal immigration, stricter rules on unemployment welfare benefits and less bureaucracy. After all, Merz’s Union won the election, gaining 28.5 per cent of the vote share – less than he’d hoped but more than the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens combined.