Boos rang out as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz campaigned for far-reaching social reforms at a major trade union congress in Berlin on Tuesday.
Merz's address to the national conference of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) called on labour representatives to view his government's reform agenda as an opportunity rather than a threat. But his appeal met with little support among the 400 delegates gathered in the German capital.
The chancellor argued that prosperity cannot be secured without economic growth, and that systemic changes are needed to boost Europe's largest economy.
"We have simply failed to modernize our country," said Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). "Germany must therefore pull itself together."
While Merz's coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) has struggled in recent weeks to agree on concrete cost-cutting reforms, the Cabinet did pass a bill last month aiming to save billions in the health care system.
The chancellor's mention of the austerity measures drew whistles and heckling at the trade union congress on Tuesday.
Looking ahead, Merz described the pension reform due to be passed this summer as the "toughest nut to crack."
“None of this is malice on my part or on the part of the federal government,” he insisted. “It is demography and mathematics,” Merz said, drawing further boos from the crowd.
Merz appealed to the trade unionists to play their part in the reforms. “We need this joint search for ways to move our country forward,” he said. “Finding the best way forward together – that is something we must succeed in doing again, especially today.”
