Is German Chancellor Friedrich Merz currently giving major interviews because of his one year anniversary in the role, or because the coalition he heads — comprised of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian counterpart the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) — is in crisis? One thing has probably led to the other. There is, in the CDU and the CSU, "a growing resentment" about the compromises the coalition is agreeing to, Merz said Sunday on the political talk show Caren Miosga on German public broadcaster ARD. His personal public approval ratings are very low. Crises were already a feature of his chancellorship even before it began. On May 6, 2025 the vote in the Bundestag to appoint him chancellor made history — for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany, the candidate did not receive the necessary absolute majority in the first round. To become the 10th German chancellor, he required a second round of voting .…