Friedrich Merz and the politics of contempt: why Germany has turned on its Chancellor

It was a long, stony road to the chancellorship, but finally, Friedrich Merz fulfilled his long-held ambitions of assuming Germany’s highest office - the chancellorship. And in May 2025, he did just that. But now, just over a year later only 19 % of Germans are satisfied with his performance. His party, the CDU, has just suffered its worst electoral results, falling short of the five per cent threshold for the state parliament in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and losing the Berlin mayoralty to Die Linke. So how did Merz find himself in this situation? 

It seems straightforward: Merz speaks before he thinks and says exactly what he thinks, which has caused the ire of many. He rarely, however, talks about anything other than the economy and the need to cut spending. To achieve growth, cuts must be made, and citizens bear the brunt of it.

In an age in which trust in institutions and politicians is flailing, Merz’s ambitions do him no favour. Although he stepped back from politics in 2009, working in the private sector and becoming a multimillionaire in the process, he returned upon Angela Merkel’s announcement that she would resign as leader of the CDU, who had been a longtime rival of Merz. After losing a power struggle with Merkel in 2004, and failing two recent bids to win the CDU leadership, Merz found himself at the helm of his party, primed to become the next chancellor given Germany’s Traffic Lights coalition troubles. 

But Merz didn't leave his old career behind when he returned to politics. Years spent running a business and sitting on corporate boards seem to have convinced him Germany can be run the same way: cut costs, ignore the noise, and expect people to fall in line.

Merz is deeply unpopular in Germany partly because of his cascade of comments about German society that continue to alienate people left and right. Merz has described the children of immigrants as ‘little pashas’, and made statements about migrants changing Germany’s Stadtbild (cityscape). Comments like these leave voters in Germany, especially those with a migrant background, to believe that the Chancellor has a clear picture in mind of who he deems German, and thus acceptable, and how he wants his cities to look. It is not a diverse picture. 

When asked about his comments concerning the ‘Stadtbild’ Merz simply quipped that maybe people should ‘ask [their] daughters’, insinuating that sexual harassment is a migrant problem. Women were outraged at his use of them as justification for such racist comments. But Merz does not apologise; he doubles down. When discussing the rise of sexual violence, both physical and digital, the chancellor acknowledged that there is indeed a rise, but insisted that ‘we also have to address the fact that a significant portion of this violence comes from immigrant groups in the Federal Republic of Germany.’ 

As the septuagenarian repeatedly points out, he does not have it easy - no chancellor has had to navigate so many difficulties, according to him. He is merely asking for a little bit of grace from the electorate, even if he doesn’t seem to extend the same courtesy. Merz endlessly criticises Germans' work ethic, calling them lazy and spoiled for opting for part-time work. A speech, shortly given after an official visit to China, shows the leader declaring that ‘the overall productivity of [Germany] is not high enough.’ It's not the endless geopolitical crises or the rise of AI that are to blame for Germany’s stagnating growth, but the Germans’ work ethic.

Not only is Merz’s demeanour unpopular, but so are his policies. As the mitochondria of the German economy, the combustion car industry is struggling to survive; the population keeps aging, energy costs are enormous, and since Putin turned off the tap of cheap Russian gas in late 2022, there is not enough money in Germany’s piggy bank. There is a broad consensus to not rely on Russian gas, but rising energy costs slow growth and drive inflation. 

Naturally, Germany is witnessing austerity-esque policies. German citizens who have mostly been living it large since the turn of the century, if you ignore Germany’s high income inequality and low social mobility, are shocked, angry and worried about their lives. This is again where the Chancellor should offer some hope for its citizens. Instead, his policies mandate a doctor’s note for the first day of missing work since Germans take too many sick days and, naturally, they are playing hooky. GPs have repeatedly warned that such a measure would be counterproductive and flood the already full waiting rooms. 

Merz’s government has also passed an austerity package that caps the budgets of medical practices; once this budget is reached, most practices cannot take on new patients as health insurance providers will no longer be mandated to reimburse doctors for any medical treatments provided above the cap. This will affect publicly insured patients, who are already waiting months for certain medical appointments. During a talk show appearance, a paediatrician criticised Merz for this decision, noting that children and those most vulnerable will pay the price. Merz flippantly called her a profiteer of the health care system, for which the Government pays €500 billion annually. It is safe to say he is unlikely to get any doctors' union to endorse him come the next election.

Yes, Merz has to make some hard decisions; it is undeniable that his job must be a constant headache, given Germany’s stagnating economy. He does not, however, have to accuse the German population, many of whom are already at a financial breaking point, of being lazy, of playing hooky, or of profiteering from sick patients. Merz, evidently, doesn’t enjoy being criticised, but neither do ordinary people. They don’t want to hear that you don’t work hard enough or that you are a burden on the public health system. They want someone to tell them that they understand that it's hard and that they will do their utmost possible to improve their situations.

But maybe that's the crux of the issue: Merz mostly talks about the stagnating economy; there is little talk of people and their lives, and maybe that explains it: if everything has to grow the economy, people are just a tiny cog in the big German engine. And to be crystal clear, Germany’s economy needs to grow again, but Germans need the same understanding and benefit of the doubt that their chancellor demands of them.

Illustration: Will Allen/Europinion.