New chancellor, old constraints: Germany’s Friedrich Merz will have a hard time freeing the country from its self-imposed shackles

New chancellor, old constraints: Germany’s Friedrich Merz will have a hard time freeing the country from its self-imposed shackles

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has had an uncertain start to his tenure. John MacDougall/AFP via Getty ImagesFriedrich Merz received a rude shock on the morning of May 6, 2025, as he prepared to lose the “in-waiting” qualifier from his title as German chancellor. After weeks of negotiations following February’s federal election, Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) had struck a coalitional bargain with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), givin…