Would-Be Merz Successor Chides Chancellor for Reform Stasis

A key figure in Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union criticized the German chancellor’s government over the pace of economic reforms and said delays in enacting legislation were a factor in the party’s disastrous performance in three regional elections this month.

“People want governments to govern, they want us to take action,” Hendrik Wuest, the premier of Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told Deutschlandfunk radio Sunday.

“A few projects now need to be wrapped up, finished, and brought to completion, projects that, in my view, have been sitting idle for a bit too long,” he said, citing a planned pension reform as one example.

“Of course, it takes time to draft a bill, that is the nature of the process, but I feel it is now high time,” said Wuest, who has long been touted as a possible replacement for Merz as party chairman and a candidate for the chancellor job.

Although he made it clear that he believes it’s not the right time for a change in leadership, Wuest’s criticism of Merz’s record stands out at a time when the deeply unpopular chancellor is under immense pressure to halt the CDU’s slide in voter support.

Backing for Merz’s conservative bloc, which includes the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the CSU, dropped half a percentage point to 19% in the latest Insa survey for Bild am Sonntag newspaper published Sunday, their weakest showing in almost five years.

Wuest, 51, who rules in NRW in a coalition with the Greens, is expected to lead the CDU to victory in an election in the state at the end of April, which could further strengthen his chances of replacing Merz at some point.

While the next federal election isn’t due until early 2029, it’s hard to imagine Merz running for the chancellory again given his unpopularity. Almost 80% of respondents in a survey for public broadcaster ZDF published last week expressed a negative opinion of his performance as head of government, while 65% don’t expect him to remain in office until the next national ballot.

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Wuest, who joined other conservative regional leaders in a show of support for Merz this month, was guarded when asked if he would commit to serving out his full five-year term as NRW premier if he wins the state vote.

“I am running for five years, I have no other plans,” he told Deutschlandfunk. “I have a job to do here — one that I continue to carry out very actively and with great enthusiasm.”

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