Germany’s leader failing his ‘last shot’ missionBy Katja Hoyer / Bloomberg OpinionGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz is remarkably unpopular. This was deliberate because this year is a bumper year for elections, with five of Germany’s 16 states going to the polls. It has always been in CDU hands, apart from a recent 15-year spell under Germany’s first and thus-far only Green state leader, Winfried Kretschmann, himself unusually conservative for a member of his party. Despite such painful setbacks and plummeting popularity, Merz appears to believe that voters fear change and would punish those who advocate it. German conservatives talk about Merz’s rule as the “last shot for democracy,” but they lack the courage of their conviction.

Source: Taipei Times March 20, 2026 18:02 UTC