Merz Cancels UN Trip as His Chancellorship Reaches the Brink
Germany’s chancellor scrapped his UN General Assembly speech to stay in Berlin — “his presence is required” — ahead of Sunday state elections that could see the CDU fall below 5% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and lose Berlin to the Left. Friedrich Merz’s approval sits near 13%, the lowest of any postwar chancellor, with the AfD polling around 30% nationally; all eight CDU state premiers signed a letter conspicuously backing “stable government” without naming him. A crisis leadership meeting is set for Sunday evening.
A German chancellor skipping the UN in a war year measures the emergency: Mr Merz has concluded, correctly, that his government could be decided by Sunday night, and that the world stage is no alibi for a leader whose party may poll beneath the threshold that expels parties from parliaments. The premiers’ letter is the classic instrument of German regicide — loyalty declared to the office, withheld from the man — and the constructive no-confidence mechanism means his survival depends less on the AfD than on whether his own coalition can agree a successor. The stakes travel: Germany anchors Ukraine’s support, the EU’s fiscal machinery and the euro. Watch Sunday’s two results and the 17:00 crisis meeting — German stability is now a weekend question.