The fact that the CDU’s Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz wasn’t voted in on the first round in the Bundestag on May 5, falling short by six votes from the CDU, is cause for considerable hand-wringing among Atlanticist house organs that are panicking that the new German Chancellor is damaged goods and can’t offer the leadership he promised. A May 6 commentary by the NATO outpost, the Atlantic Council, is entitled “Merz’s Double-Take Chancellor Vote a Sign of Things To Come in Germany.” Authors Jorn Fleck and Jurek Wille lament that instead of winning in the first round and getting “crowned” victoriously, Merz instead got a “shot across the bow,” and while not fatal, “this short-lived saga shows that political instability in Europe’s largest economy and reluctant hegemon may not be over, despite Merz’s promises to the contrary.”
At a time when Germany and Europe “can least afford it,” the two authors say, the new government’s takeover is very weakened, and Merz’s promise to restore Germany’s predictability and credibility in Europe “has taken some damage now.” Worse, if the six votes against him mean that resistance is “more deep seated, then it could destabilize the government every time controversial issues and complex compromise deals are up for a vote.” After Merz officially became Chancellor, he tried to project an image of strength and promised that Germany’s voice would be heard “in Europe and the world.” But Fleck and Willie warn that the vote and the dissension against Merz from his own ranks suggests “Germany’s next leadership will continue to struggle with fragility, division and indecisiveness. This will not go unnoticed in Moscow, Beijing or Washington.”
