One year into leading Germany's governing coalition, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (head of the centre-right CDU party) is facing a sharp erosion of credibility, having abandoned several core campaign pledges including his staunch opposition to loosening the country's constitutional debt brake and his rejection of state subsidies for industrial energy costs. The black-red coalition — uniting the CDU with the centre-left SPD — has fractured with unusual speed, with CDU lawmakers openly warning it may not survive a full four-year term, while SPD ministers have publicly questioned Merz's ability to govern. Germany's economy is forecast to grow just 0.5 percent this year, weighed down by both global pressures and structural domestic failings, with flagship reform efforts widely seen as superficial cost adjustments rather than meaningful change.