Germany's Merz Makes Deal, but Voters Flock to AfD

"BERLIN -- Germany's chancellor-in-waiting has clinched a deal to form a new coalition, officials said on Wednesday. Now he must persuade Germans who have been deserting his party in droves since he won the election that he can fix the economy and get immigration under control.

Even before taking office, Friedrich Merz and his conservative Christian Democratic Union have seen their ratings plummet, while the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, became the country's most popular party, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Like other European leaders, Merz is facing a puzzle: How to implement the disruptive and painful changes required by a turbulent economic and geopolitical environment without losing voters' fragile trust.

The coalition agreement showed that "the political center in our country is capable of solving the problems we're facing," Merz said Wednesday, as he unveiled the document following weeks of talks after the Feb. 23 election.

His government, he said, would lower taxes on businesses and some households, help companies restore their competitiveness, drastically reduce illegal immigration and reclaim Germany's leadership role in the European Union.

In a nod to frequent demands from the right, Merz said Germany would make it harder for migrants legally in the country to get German citizenship, and would reduce the size of the federal government payroll by 8%.

The coalition program builds on an initial agreement to deploy a roughly one-trillion-euro defense and infrastructure spending package to rebuild a military hollowed out by decades of neglect and drag Europe's largest economy out of a two-year recession.

That decision broke with a longstanding German tradition of fiscal restraint, and gained plaudits across Europe. Merz then pledged to repair relations with neighbors and stand up to President Trump, feeding a narrative that Germany was back after his predecessor Olaf Scholz's introverted three-year reign.

So far, however, German voters have shown no such enthusiasm. An Ipsos poll published Wednesday showed support for the AfD overtaking the CDU's for the first time, with the AfD's rating reaching 25% and the CDU's falling to 24%, down more than four points from its election result.

Merz's decision to jettison fiscal restraint after pledging to cut spending and abide by the country's fiscal rules during his campaign caused consternation among conservative voters in particular, prompting the CDU's youth wing to warn they might not support Merz's government.

The U-turn on fiscal policy has fatally undermined trust in Merz, said Manfred Gullner, head of the Forsa polling group. More than a quarter of CDU supporters and 60% of all voters see Merz as unfit to be chancellor, according to a Forsa poll released Wednesday.

The conservative leader won't have to face an election for another four years, but his party could suffer at a string of important state ballots in the next two years. Defeats could undermine support in the future government and test the coalition's cohesion. Plummeting popular support was among the reasons for the collapse of the last German government one year ahead of schedule.

Merz's task will be complicated by Trump's global trade war.

Wednesday's agreement isn't the last hurdle before Merz can become chancellor. The Social Democratic Party will put the deal to a vote of party members in an online poll in the next two weeks. Merz's CDU will adopt the deal at the leadership level. If the document is approved by both parties, this would put Merz on course to be elected chancellor by parliament in early May." [1]

Merz wants to repeat failed Biden's experiment - borrow a lot and spread the funds between his electorate members with no benefit for the economy. People will be furious with him for the waste and inflation as they have been with Biden.

1.  World News: Germany's Merz Makes Deal, but Voters Flock to AfD. Bertrand, Benoit.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Apr 2025: A8.