It is unheard of in German politics for a government to lose support before it has even entered office. Yet this is precisely what has happened to the incoming coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) under Friedrich Merz, Germany\u2019s likely new chancellor.<\/p>\n
When the two parties unveiled their 146-page coalition agreement last week, the polls delivered a damning verdict. Support for the CDU, which won February\u2019s General Election with a meagre 28.5 per cent, plummeted to 24 per cent<\/a>. Even more alarming for the incoming government, many polls now place the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the lead at 25 per cent. Hermann Binkert<\/a>, head of the INSA polling institute, describes this as a \u2018loss of approval like never before in the period between a federal election and the formation of a new government\u2019.<\/p>\n The reason for the CDU\u2019s tanking popularity isn\u2019t difficult to fathom. Nearly two-thirds of Germans<\/a> don\u2019t believe this government will deliver meaningful change. Yet change was precisely what voters demanded when they decisively rejected all the parties in the outgoing government in February, especially the SPD. It\u2019s why Merz tried to position himself as the candidate for change, promising radical reforms to migration and the economy.<\/p>\n The collapse in support for Merz\u2019s CDU was predictable from the moment he announced his intention to form a coalition with the SPD. How could he possibly achieve change alongside a party responsible for so many of Germany\u2019s worst failures in recent years<\/a>? The SPD, which led the despised last government, was the election\u2019s biggest loser. It won just 16 per cent of the vote \u2013 its worst result since 1887. Yet now Merz has brought the very people voters wanted to get rid of back into power. The SPD will now control seven ministries<\/a>, including finance, labour and defence.<\/p>\n The coalition agreement confirms voters\u2019 worst fear \u2013 namely, that meaningful change is off the table, despite the enormous challenges Germany faces. For one thing, the economically ruinous pursuit of Net Zero will continue unabated. The CDU\u2019s pre-election promise to review the suicidal phase-out of nuclear energy<\/a> has now been abandoned, and the dismantling of Germany\u2019s last nuclear power stations will go ahead after all. While much has been made of Merz\u2019s post-election announcement of billions of euros of debt-funded investment in defence and infrastructure, \u20ac100 billion<\/a> of this will be earmarked for climate-change initiatives. <\/p>\n Similarly, Merz\u2019s promised tightening of immigration rules now amounts to little. Border controls that are already in place will be maintained, but these are woefully inadequate. Migrants entering without valid papers are to be deported, but only in coordination with Germany\u2019s EU neighbours \u2013 another way of saying it won\u2019t happen at all. This has dashed the hopes of the vast majority of Germans who expect the state to get immigration back under control. <\/p>\n The coalition agreement is the \u2018most spectacular betrayal of centre-right voters\u2019, according to one commentator<\/a>. The CDU will happily break any promise so long as it keeps the AfD out of power. Indeed, Merz told the press<\/a> last month that he felt \u2018virtually obliged\u2019 to partner with the SPD, as this was the only route to a \u2018parliamentary majority\u2019 that involves the \u2018democratic centre\u2019. Both the CDU and SPD, he added, understand their \u2018European and international responsibilities\u2019. <\/p>\n There are, of course, legitimate reasons for Merz to avoid a coalition with the AfD, including the party\u2019s failure to purge its extremist elements. Still, the coalition agreement with the SPD represents nothing less than the thwarting of voters\u2019 wishes. It has, in effect, rewarded the election\u2019s biggest losers and carried over their most hated policies. What\u2019s more, Merz\u2019s outrageous manoeuvre of having his spending plans authorised by the outgoing parliament<\/a>, because he knew the newly elected one would vote them down, further demonstrates his contempt for democracy.<\/p>\n The German establishment\u2019s mission to crush populist dissent has become all-consuming. To this end, the coalition agreement includes numerous censorship provisions. It will criminalise<\/a> the dissemination of \u2018fake facts\u2019 and tighten already repressive laws against \u2018incitement<\/a>\u2019. Free speech will continue to be sacrificed. <\/p>\n Without even realising it, the German elites are doing everything possible to strengthen their populist opponents. By taking change firmly off the table, Merz and Co are only hastening their own collapse. <\/p>\n Sabine Beppler-Spahl<\/strong> is spiked\u2019s Germany correspondent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is unheard of in German politics for a government to lose support before it has even entered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,6565],"class_list":{"0":"post-26041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-populism"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114350335142842946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}