A despairing German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed during an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC that none of his predecessors had to ever put up with the same level of criticism he receives from social media users.
“I only log on to social media occasionally, but if you look at what’s being said about me, how I’m being attacked and belittled… no Foreign Minister has ever had to put up with anything like this. I’m not complaining, but that’s just how it is,” Merz lamented.
Merz spoke with ABC at a time when the ruling German government coalition marked its first year in power amid widespread rejection and criticism over its lackluster performance — particularly when it comes to immigration. His performance has earned Merz the undesirable position of least popular leader in Europe, according to the results of YouGov’s latest broad European survey.
On the subject of social media criticism, ABC reportedly told Merz that his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, “put up with quite a lot” of criticism. Merz responded that while it is “true,” the difference between him and Scholz is that Scholz “told the public that nothing would be that serious if they elected him.”
“He [Scholz] always said there would be no need to choose between security and social policy. We can no longer afford that. We must set priorities,” Merz responded.
The German Chancellor also compared his criticism with the one Gerhard Schröder received during his tenure — saying that while Schröder endued “strong resistance” over his government policies, he “was not attacked like me.”
Throughout the interview, published by ABC on Thursday, the German Chancellor affirmed that he is “realizing just how slow and sometimes sluggish” German democracy is. He claimed that, in spite of that, the German government has “already achieved a great deal. And we still have a long way to go.”
“We haven’t managed expectations well. We live in an age that promises instant gratification. But politics in a democracy isn’t an online delivery service,” he argued.
Merz also affirmed that he does not get “what all the fuss is about” over his calls to introduce economic reforms to the European nation because, he stressed, he is the “first Chancellor in 20 years to tell Germans: ‘Our dream of prosperity will not last.’ We must do more.”
Although Merz told ABC that he is “not complaining” over the amount of criticism he receives on social media, the German Chancellor has recently expressed his frustration over what he described as “toxic” criticism against politicians on such online platforms, particularly those coming from anonymous users.
Speaking at Salzwedel in late April, Merz reportedly complained that “top political figures are being attacked – including personally attacked and denigrated – in a way that has a toxic effect on the social climate.”
“Why is that? For example, it’s also because on social media everyone can anonymously say what they think and how they think, and in a language that I find simply hard to bear,” he added, and claimed, “I have to endure it. I can’t change it. I find it regrettable. It poisons part of the political climate in our country.”