BERLIN — Friedrich Merz faces a stark choice: Reshape the unpopular reform drive on which he has staked his chancellorship — or risk going down defending it. The day after his conservatives’ worst election defeat in postwar German history and the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s second win in two weeks in votes in the east of the country, Merz acknowledged that the German public’s rejection of his reform drive was a big part of his party’s problem. But he exhibited no clear plan for what to do about it. Leaders from Merz’s Christian Democratic Union publicly closed ranks around the chancellor and his reform drive on Monday, despite growing internal concern that his leadership is rapidly driving their party toward demise.
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