Germany's chancellor under pressure over failures

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz came under growing pressure from allies and rivals alike over electoral and legislative failures, raising the possibility that the leader of Europe’s biggest economy could be ousted. His government yesterday withdrew a key tax proposal, while labor and pensions plans that economists regard as necessary to bolster the country’s languid growth are also under pressure.
His party’s retreat comes after a series of embarrassing election showings in which the far-right AfD made huge inroads. Germany has little record of a mid-term change in federal leadership, but at least two European capitals have held internal war games on the implications of Merz’s chancellorship ending, Politico reported, while Handelsblatt described him as a “pseudo-dead man.”

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