IT IS A sunny spring morning in Salzwedel, a picturesque(风景如画的) town of half-timbered houses(半木结构房屋) and cobbled(铺鹅卵石的) streets in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt, and people have come to shout at Friedrich Merz. Outside the cultural centre where Germany’s chancellor has agreed to take questions from locals, farmers and others protest against his energy policies. Inside, a skin-cancer victim upset about proposed changes to screening rules complains that politicians feather their nests(中饱私囊) as ordinary folk suffer. “The chancellor only talks around the issues, he offers nothing concrete(具体的，实质性的),” says Thomas Becker, an entrepreneur angry about red tape(官僚主义；繁琐手续) and aid to Ukraine. He wants new elections.
这是在萨克森-安哈尔特州东部小镇萨尔茨韦德尔的一个阳光明媚的春日早晨，这个风景如画的小镇拥有半木结构房屋和鹅卵石街道，人们来到这里向弗里德里希·默茨表达不满。在文化中心外——德国总理同意在此接受当地民众提问——农民和其他人抗议他的能源政策。在中心内，一名皮肤癌患者对拟议的筛查规则变更感到不满，抱怨政客们中饱私囊，而普通民众却在受苦。“总理只是在敷衍问题，没有提出任何具体措施，”企业家托马斯·贝克尔说，他对繁琐的官僚程序和对乌克兰的援助感到愤怒。他要求重新选举。
Mr Merz, who took office(上任) a year ago, is not without achievement. Even before becoming chancellor he pushed through(推动通过) constitutional changes to enable massive investments in rearmament(重新武装) and infrastructure. Mr Merz’s coalition—which unites his centre-right Christian Democrats (cdu) and their Bavarian sister party(姊妹党), the Christian Social Union (csu), with the Social Democrats (spd)—has approved reforms to welfare, tax, energy and, most recently, health care. The sting has been drawn from a bitter debate over irregular migration as numbers have tumbled(急剧下降) (albeit largely due to events outside the government’s control). And notwithstanding(尽管) his recent spat with Donald Trump, Mr Merz has restored a sense of vitality(活力；生命力) to German foreign and security policy.
一年前上任的默茨先生并非没有成就。甚至在成为总理之前，他就推动了宪法改革，使得大规模军备和基础设施投资成为可能。默茨的联盟——由他的中右翼基督教民主联盟（基民盟）及其巴伐利亚姐妹党基督教社会联盟（基社盟）与社会民主党（社民党）组成——已经批准了福利、税收、能源以及最近的医疗改革。随着非法移民数量的下降（尽管很大程度上是由于政府无法控制的外部事件），围绕非正常移民的激烈争论已经缓和。尽管最近与唐纳德·特朗普发生争执，默茨仍为德国的外交和安全政策注入了活力。
Yet, as the event in Salzwedel suggests, Germans are fed up with(受够了) the chancellor. Although Mr Merz never commanded(赢得；博得) Germans’ affection, now just 13% say they are satisfied with his work and only 11% think his government is doing a good job. The cdu/csu has slid(下滑) in polls to just 23% since winning last year’s federal election with 29%. The SPD is in even worse shape; it was hammered(重创；惨败) in two recent state elections and languishes(低迷；受煎熬) on 13%.
然而，正如萨尔茨韦德尔事件所显示的，德国人已经受够了这位总理。尽管默茨从未赢得过德国人的爱戴，但现在只有13%的人对他的工作感到满意，仅11%的人认为他的政府工作出色。基民盟/基社盟自去年以29%的得票率赢得联邦大选以来，在民调中的支持率已下滑至23%。社民党的处境更糟；它在近两次州选举中遭受重创，支持率低迷，仅为13%。
