When Friedrich Merz became Germany’s chancellor this year, he promised to revive a moribund economy, rebuild the nation’s neglected infrastructure and make the country relevant on the global stage again.
His failure to deliver on many of these core issues has not only helped energize far-right parties like the Alternative for Germany, it’s also stoked speculation that Merz’s government may suffer the same fate as that of his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, and collapse before it completes its term.
Only 16% of Germans want to see Merz, who has just turned 70, as a candidate in the next federal election, according to a recent poll by RTL/n-tv, and his two-party coalition is paralyzed by internal conflicts and rivalries. German stocks, which surged as he took office, have been going sideways since the summer.
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