German Chancellor Freidrich Merz has reportedly canceled his planned trip to the UN General Assembly in New York, as his political future hangs in the balance after a landslide loss to the right-wing AfD in state elections.
Merz was scheduled to travel to New York next week, where high-level meetings between world leaders kick off at UN headquarters. However, a German government source told Reuters on Tuesday that the trip had been canceled, as the chancellor’s “presence is required in Berlin.”
According to another source, Merz’ Christian Democrats (CDU) have called a special meeting for Sunday.
The CDU is reeling from its state election loss to the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt last week. The AfD secured 43.8% of the vote, with the CDU a distant second at 17.2%. Merz’ party has been trailing the AfD in opinion polls for over a year, and an equally dismal performance is expected in elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin this weekend, where the CDU is polling at 7% and 20%, respectively.
Just over a year into his chancellorship, CDU members and the German public are losing confidence in Merz. Both Merz and his center-left predecessor, Olaf Scholz, have presided over a country in rapid industrial decline, with Germany’s largest manufacturers – including Volkswagen and BASF – closing plants due to spiraling energy costs, a direct result of Berlin’s self-imposed embargo on Russian oil and gas.
Merz has poured money into an ambitious rearmament program, promising last year to build “the strongest conventional army in Europe.” Meanwhile, ordinary citizens have been told to work more and warned that the “welfare state as we have it today can no longer be financed.” In May, Merz’ government announced new social spending cuts and plans to raise the retirement age from 67 to 70.
Merz loses at home and abroad
Over the weekend, an INSA poll found that a majority of CDU voters no longer support the chancellor, while 78% of the general public disapprove of his leadership.
As Merz’ approval rating tanks at home, Germany’s standing at the UN has diminished. In June, the country lost a bid for a temporary seat on the UN Security Council for the first time in history. Critics blamed Berlin’s iron-clad support for Israel – with the German government going as far as describing Israeli strikes on Palestinian schools as “self-defense” – coupled with fierce opposition to Russia, a position that appeared hypocritical to the Global South.
“When it comes to Russia, international law counts, but when it comes to the USA and Israel, it doesn’t,” left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht told the Berliner Zeitung at the time. “This double standard was voted out by the international community yesterday.”
Back in Germany, Merz has vowed to stay the course. After promising to unveil measures to lower fuel costs “very soon,” the chancellor said on Tuesday that he was “elected for four years, and I would like us to use these four years to steer the country out of this difficult period.”
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