00:01One year into Friedrich Merz's chancellorship, the honeymoon is long gone and much of the damage is self-inflicted.
00:08He recently chose the bold strategy of scolding Germany's workforce for taking too many sick days,
00:15dismissing part-time jobs as a lazy lifestyle choice and even telling Germans to look to Greece to learn how
00:21to work hard.
00:23A staggering historical plot twist from a leader whose country spent years lecturing Europe on efficiency, isn't it?
00:29Huh, so what went wrong?
00:33A year ago, Merz promised a conservative pro-market renewal.
00:37But his center-right and center-left coalition is paralyzed by internal fighting.
00:41Germany's economic recovery has completely stalled with growth projections for this year, halved to just 0.5%.
00:49And voters are furious over high energy costs, heavy taxes, an upcoming 4 billion euro cut to the public pension
00:56system.
00:57And internationally, a public swipe at Donald Trump over Iran backfired badly, with the US president claiming Merz doesn't know
01:05what he's talking about.
01:07And with the planned withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany, vital long-term security agreements look now a
01:14bit shaky.
01:15And according to the recent survey, Merz is now the most unpopular democratically elected leader in the world.
01:22And a staggering 76% of Germans disapprove of his performance.
01:26But to be fair to Merz, his job isn't easy.
01:29His coalition holds a tiny parliamentary majority of just 12 seats.
01:34And with his CDU party dropping to just 23% in the polls, he looks more and more isolated, allowing
01:42the far-right AFD to take the lead ahead of critical state elections this autumn.
01:47Merz has always been seen as a man of business.
01:50He promised the German people he would get the economy back on track.
01:53But so far, he's offering them nothing but economic tough love and longer working weeks.
01:59And if his voters do not see economic results soon, they will send Merz into retirement.
02:04And given his notorious comments about how glad he was to escape the Amazon after last year's climate summit in
02:11Brazil,
02:12it is safe to assume he won't be choosing to spend that time off in Berlin.
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