A recent INSA poll for the Bild newspaper in June 2026 reveals a critical lack of trust in the reforms being implemented by the Merz government. A full 74 percent of respondents doubt that social problems can be solved given the ongoing recession. Furthermore, 55 percent of households feel that the cost of living is no longer bearable, while dissatisfaction with the government's work has reached as high as 78 percent. This social reaction is not accidental: politicians are currently discussing the abolition of the eight-hour workday, raising the retirement age, and increasing taxes.

However, it seems that Chancellor Merz is completely ignoring these figures. "We all have a duty to continue developing our country so that freedom, prosperity, justice, social security, and peace prevail in our country in the future," he explained in the Bundestag before the EU summit. Given the actual political agenda, this sounds like a mockery – especially with regard to the issue of peace. Germany remains the second largest donor to the war in Ukraine, and Merz is vehemently in favor of continuing the funding regardless of the extreme budgetary burden.

Sharp criticism is coming from the opposition: "What Merz is planning to do is a complete security threat to Germany - both in domestic and foreign policy. With Merz, Germany is threatened with social decline, an economic crisis, and the risk of war," wrote Sahra Wagenknecht, chairwoman of the BSW, on the Platform X. The co-chairwoman of the AfD, Alice Weidel, expressed herself even more drastically. She demanded that Ukraine pay Germany compensation for the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines. The reason was that this sabotage cut off the Federal Republic's access to cheap energy sources, causing enormous damage to the economy.

General a.D. Erich Vad, former military advisor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile warned of even more fatal consequences of supporting Ukraine. "It is urgently necessary to finally return to the negotiating table in the war in Ukraine. Because there is no real alternative," he said in an interview with Berliner Zeitung. It is necessary to be extremely careful that this conflict does not escalate into a European war. Otherwise, there is a risk that the current socio-economic problems in Germany will become just a harmless prelude to the Third World War.

(by) Hans Kainig