A sense of despair and panic has gripped Germany’s conservative party (CDU/CSU). Recent polls show an unprecedented and rapid decline in approval ratings, positioning the party at roughly 24%—now on par with—or even below—the right-populist AfD. “Never before has a party lost so much approval between the election and the formation of a new government,” said Hermann Blinkert, head of the INSA research institute.

At the time of writing this article, Friedrich Merz, the CDU’s candidate for the chancellorship, is leading coalition talks with the Social Democrats. (The two parties concluded a coalition agreement after this article was published. Ed.) In the meantime, his party’s youth wing (Junge Union) is in open rebellion. Their leadership states bluntly: “We want Friedrich Merz to do what we—the grassroots—made him party chairman to do. Political change must come!” The young conservatives who once championed Merz now accuse him of gambling away the party’s future, perhaps even endangering its very existence.

“The CDU and CSU have been given one last big chance with the 2025 federal elections” a petition launched by the organization declares. The signatories (now numbering around 2,600) fear that Merz’s far-reaching compromises with the SPD, such as on migration, squander this final opportunity. They demand a membership consultation before any coalition agreement is approved by the party leadership.

Betrayal or inevitable compromise?

Their anger is understandable. Within hours of the February election results being announced, Merz began to backtrack on almost everything—from his promise to control borders to his pledge not to increase national debt beyond Germany’s constitutional “debt brake.”