Merz: Departure for chancellors or shadows of the voter deception?

Merz: Departure for chancellors or shadows of the voter deception?

Friedrich Merz, the 69-year-old new chairman of the CDU, is about to be elected as a tenth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the political landscape, the coalition agreement between the CDU and the SPD has now finalized, which is a significant step towards Merz 'chancellorship. The election in the Bundestag is expected to take place at the beginning of May 2025, but Merz takes up his office without a trust. This is all the more remarkable, since surveys classify confidence in his chancellery as little, as Vol.at reports.

Merz is also confronted with growing challenges: the AfD strengthens its position in the surveys, while its own support in the CDU basis is considered fragile. Above all, he is criticized for the fact that he comes too far to the SPD in the coalition. His political comeback is special because he was elected CDU chairman in 2022 after a time in 2022 after it failed in 2018 and 2021. Merz’s political career began early on, and between 1989 and 2009 he was active in various offices, including as an opposition leader in the Bundestag and MP in the European Parliament.

coalition agreement with the SPD

The recently concluded coalition agreement is entitled "Responsibility for Germany" and is intended to serve as the basis for an economic upswing, so ZDF . Merz emphasizes the need for many measures to save savings. In order to regain the trust of the population, measures to create a new Ministry for Digitization and State Modernization as well as reforms in the areas of tax cuts and economic strength are planned. The limitation of migration is also on the agenda.

A particularly important change in migration policy is the abolition of turbo institutions after three years and the suspension of the family reunification for refugees with limited protection status, while the fundamental right to asylum remains untouched. In the area of internal security, the coalition partners also plan new regulations for storing IP addresses by telecommunications providers for three months.

Minister distribution and economic perspectives

The distribution of the minister shows a clear division of the departments between the CDU, SPD and CSU. The CDU receives the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Health and other important departments, while the SPD occupies the ministries for finance, defense and judiciary. CSU boss Markus Söder has rated the agreement as a significant success. However, the reforms sought by Merz are not without challenges, especially with regard to the need for fundamental changes in pension policy that were only continued for six years.

Merz said that he is not afraid of an SPD finance minister. He assures that financial decisions are made in the cabinet. This is considered an important step to promote cooperation between the parties and to stabilize the government. The negotiations on the approval of the coalition agreement between the parties are to be concluded on April 28 and 29, followed by a signing on April 30th.

The coming weeks will be crucial to see whether Merz and his government can regain the trust of the citizens and the planned reforms are actually implemented. The Süddeutsche Zeitung emphasizes that Merz recognizes the coalition agreement as a strong compromise and would like to make clear progress in various areas in order to to enable positive economic development.