Overview
- Thorsten Frei was elected CDU/CSU parliamentary leader with 91.9 percent support on Wednesday and has assumed the post as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s wider personnel reshuffle is now largely in place.
- President Steinmeier has appointed three new CDU ministers—Nina Warken to the Chancellery, Carsten Linnemann to Health and Steffen Bilger to Transport—completing the core of Merz’s cabinet changes.
- The minister‑presidents of Saxony, Saxony‑Anhalt and Thuringia published a joint positions paper opposing the planned abolition of the penalty‑free pension after 45 contribution years and demanded long transition rules tailored to eastern work histories.
- Those three states together control 12 of the Bundesrat’s 69 votes so they cannot veto the reform alone but their refusal could become decisive if other Länder join them or if the dispute delays coalition agreement on the package.
- Polls show broad public criticism of Merz’s reshuffle and weak CDU support in eastern contests, which means the pension fight could both force concessions to protect older eastern workers and heighten short‑term electoral losses for the party.