Germany's Merz shocked by far-right state election triumph but doubles down on unpopular reforms

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doubled down Monday on pushing through unpopular reforms to Europe’s largest economy after a far-right party surged to a landslide victory in a regional election , with a very good chance of forming the first far-right state government since the Nazi era. Merz said his center-right Christian Democratic Union was “deeply shocked” by what he called “the most serious election defeat that the CDU has had for years, for decades.” But he indicated that he's determined to stay at the helm and said that “giving up is not an option for me.” The anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AfD, fell just short of a majority in Sunday’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a small eastern state that gained outsized prominence as AfD eyed power there. Its regional branch is one of several considered a proven right-wing extremist group by Germany's domestic intelligence agency. President Donald Trump. Because of Germany’s Nazi past, far-right movements have always come under strong scrutiny.

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