Friedrich Merz

Introduction

Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has been chancellor since May 2025, heading a black-red coalition of his Union parties and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between July and September 2026 his government slid into the gravest crisis of his chancellorship — a personnel scandal, a botched cabinet reshuffle, and a historic election defeat in Saxony-Anhalt that made the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) the strongest force there. Within days his approval had sunk to historic lows, newspapers spoke of a “Kanzlerdämmerung” — a twilight of the chancellor — and legislators openly discussed replacing him. The “cancellation” documented here is that leadership crisis: Merz remained chancellor at the time of writing, but for the first time his removal by his own party was discussed in the open.

Background Information

Merz took office after the February 2025 federal election, in which the CDU/CSU finished first; because the AfD came second and mainstream parties upheld a “Brandmauer” — firewall — against it, Merz negotiated a fifth postwar black-red coalition with the weakened SPD. On 6 May 2025 he failed the first Bundestag ballot — unprecedented for a designated chancellor — before winning the second and being appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He promised a “Wirtschaftswende,” an economic turnaround, and meant to reduce support for the AfD; sixteen months later the AfD led national polls at around 28–29 percent, with the Union near 20. His pensions, care and tax reform package was unpopular with much of the electorate. Then, on 14 July 2026, Bild reported that Jens Spahn, the Union’s parliamentary leader, and his husband had become parents through a surrogate in the United States. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Germany and had long been opposed by the CDU — including by Spahn himself. The disclosure triggered a conservative backlash, and Spahn resigned as parliamentary leader on 18 July 2026.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Merz used the vacancy to rearrange party and government posts — and produced a second crisis. On 29 July 2026 President Steinmeier appointed Nina Warken as head of the Federal Chancellery, Carsten Linnemann as health minister and Steffen Bilger as transport minister, succeeding Patrick Schnieder. The transport change was chaotic: Schnieder learned of his dismissal while on holiday; the first designated successor, Fritz Güntzler, accepted and then withdrew; and Schnieder asked to be dismissed to end what he called an “undignified situation.” The new ministers were not sworn in until after the summer recess, a delay that drew criticism. Politico called the combined affairs “the gravest crisis of [Merz’s] chancellorship” to that point, and replacing the chancellor was no longer taboo in private among Union legislators, though most postponed any move until after September’s state elections. That test proved catastrophic. In the Saxony-Anhalt election of 6 September 2026 the AfD won 43.8 percent of the party-list vote — the strongest result for any party in the state since reunification — while the CDU fell to 17.2 percent, its worst result there since the state was reconstituted, and lost every constituency seat. An exit poll found only about 9 percent of voters there approved of Merz’s performance as chancellor.

Public Reaction and Consequences

At a press conference on 7 September Merz called the result “the worst election defeat the CDU has suffered in years—or even decades” and said the party had been shaken “to its very foundations.” “We are all deeply shocked,” he told reporters, adding, “Of course, there will have to be consequences.” He conceded that “my persona, too, has been a recurring topic in this election campaign,” but insisted that “giving up is not an option.” Dissatisfaction spilled into the open as CDU lawmakers publicly demanded the party “question everything” and abandon business as usual, while the AfD pressed its advantage: co-leader Alice Weidel declared that “the conservative bloc will never again be able to win a federal election, that is a fact,” and that “no chancellor before has been as unpopular as Friedrich Merz”; her party began openly courting CDU lawmakers in Saxony-Anhalt to defect. The coalition frayed too: SPD leaders demanded talks to soften pension and care reforms and revisit the 2027 budget, while some Union legislators urged Merz to dismiss labour minister Bärbel Bas — a step that would have broken the coalition. An INSA survey for Bild found 14 percent of respondents regarded Merz as the right chancellor and 78 percent did not, including a majority of Union voters. Newspapers wrote of an “Operation Chancellor Removal” inside the CDU, with scenarios ranging from resignation and a “Kanzlertausch” in favour of Hendrik Wüst or Markus Söder, to coalition collapse or a minority government, to an Article 68 confidence vote; the government dismissed reports of a minority cabinet as “completely out of thin air.” The AfD also said it would file a criminal complaint against Merz for defamatory insult over a 9 September budget-debate remark in which he called the AfD’s “remigration” programme “nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin colour” — a complaint that remained a threat, not an adjudicated case.

Current Status

Merz remains chancellor and has refused to resign, telling reporters he would remain in office and stay the course on reforms he argues are long overdue. By 13–14 September 2026 he was attending an EU Arctic security summit in Rovaniemi, Finland, telephoning senior CDU figures and taking no press questions. The immediate tests are electoral: state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on 20 September 2026, with the CDU reported headed for defeat in the latter and likely to fall out of power in Berlin. No formal step to remove him had been taken; talk of a “chancellor swap” remained speculation rather than action.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At the time of writing the damage is to Merz’s authority rather than his office. His approval stands at historic lows, national polls place the AfD first, and the reform package at the centre of his legislative agenda is contested by his own coalition partner. Politico framed the conservatives’ choice as confronting the far right under a deeply unpopular chancellor or changing course with a new leader. Merz acknowledged the result was causing “major upheaval” within his party, promised to communicate his reforms more clearly, and described the moment as also “a matter of compassion, empathy, and emotions.” Whether his party grants him the time he asks for is the open question on which his chancellorship now hangs.