Germany Is Officially Adrift

Filed 57m ago · Via Foreign Policy · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Music for Funeral Home - Part 11

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Geoffroy Van der Hasselt, Geoffroy van der Hasselt · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called weekend state election results a disaster after his Christian Democratic Union fell below the 5 percent threshold in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the first time in postwar history the party has failed to win seats in a state legislature. The far-right AfD topped that state's vote with 38 percent, its second first-place finish this month, while the Left party won in Berlin.

A recent poll found 84 percent of Germans dissatisfied with Merz's government, fueling speculation he could be pushed out. State CDU leaders issued a statement backing stability without naming Merz directly, and he has pledged to remain both chancellor and party chairman.

Analysts note Merz's survival owes less to confidence in his leadership than to rivals' reluctance to inherit blame for unpopular reforms, leaving Germany's governing coalition intact but adrift.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Nobody wants the steering wheel when the car is already headed for the ditch, so the fellow already holding it gets to keep driving. That is not a vote of confidence in Merz, it is everyone else backing away slowly. Aława grand coalition kept together by mutual dread is still a coalition, but calling it governance is generous.

Source: Read the original at Foreign Policy → Scored: Music for Funeral Home - Part 11 · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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