Overview
- The CDU–SPD leadership met in a Koalitionsausschuss on Tuesday to craft alternatives to the failed €1,000 tax‑free payment, but participants signaled no binding decisions.
- Following Tuesday’s rough reception at the DGB congress, Chancellor Friedrich Merz was booed over planned social and labor reforms while Labour Minister Bärbel Bas drew applause for rejecting cuts and cautioning against scrapping the eight‑hour day.
- Tax talks remain stuck: SPD leader and finance minister Lars Klingbeil argues for relief to low and middle earners paid for by higher contributions from top incomes and larger inheritances, while Merz rejects higher top rates and CSU chief Markus Söder only hints at a narrow surcharge on very high incomes.
- The AfD’s René Stadtkewitz won the Zehdenick mayor’s race with 58.4 percent on Monday, a result senior conservatives called an alarm signal that should spur a credible policy response, as reports from CDU locals describe deep frustration with the coalition’s performance.
- Union resistance is set to intensify in June when the government plans a bill to shift from a daily eight‑hour limit to a weekly cap with mandatory electronic time tracking, even as surveys and an Ifo analysis tie thin household savings and economic stress to rising support for right‑wing populists.