Chancellor Merz has received praise internationally for many German foreign policy and defense initiatives in 2025: suspending the “debt brake” to allow for more security investments, expanding the Bundeswehr, committing to raising the defense spending proportion to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2029, and pursuing a more active diplomacy on security issues with European partners. While those initiatives resonate with the German public, Merz’s government still suffers from a record-low approval rating and is constrained by a narrow coalition majority. Nicole Bastian of Handelsblatt, one of Germany’s leading dailies, joins this episode of The Zeitgeist to discuss what drives the chancellor’s foreign policy strategies and domestic public opinion and what domestic challenges he must overcome to maintain momentum internationally.

Host
Jeff Rathke, President, AGI
Guest
Nicole Bastian, Co-head of Podcast, Video, and Live Journalism, Handelsblatt