Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz is a political record-breaker. The problem for him is these records are overwhelmingly negative and he is at risk of losing his job over them. The problem for the EU and for Europe more broadly is this has a destabilising effect far further afield.
At a paltry 13%, Merz's popularity rating is the lowest for any German chancellor since polling began. German voters' ardour for him started lower and fell faster than any of his predecessors. The former corporate lawyer is perceived by many to be arrogant and out of touch with their problems.
He has only been in government for 16 months but under his chairmanship, Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Unionist (CDU) party has suffered three very poor showings in regional elections over the last couple of weeks. The state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern broke another record on Sunday according to preliminary results: Merz's conservative CDU party did not even reach the 5% threshold to enter the regional parliament. Conversely, the anti-immigration, nationalist right Alternative for Germany (AfD) - a political party Merz had promised to slash support for when he was running for CDU leadership - has performed spectacularly well.
It became the biggest political faction in two out of those three recent state elections and broke another record: they have a chance at governing in one of those states, Saxony Anhalt, despite the German authorities labelling them in part anti-democratic and far-right extremist. The AfD also tops opinion polls nationally, a particularly sensitive issue for Germany after its Nazi past. The party rejects the far-right label.
Its German name, Alternative fuer Deutschland, means Alternative for Germany. That is exactly what they say voters now want. Following this month's regional election surge in success for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, plus its gains in Berlin - where the victors were the hard left Die Linke party - AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said on Monday that her party had effectively replaced the center-right CDU as Germany's true Volkspartei, or catch-all people's party.
The AfD accuses Merz of failing to fulfil his key election promises to improve the spluttering German economy - once seen as the financial engine of Europe - and to find workable solutions to voter fears about immigration and security on their streets. High time for political change, says the AfD. Merz's position as German chancellor certainly looks wobbly.
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