Germany in June 2026: the most important developments in politics
In Germany in June 2026, the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed a reform agenda under pressure. Rumors of a chancellor change circulated on June 1, and media reports said dissatisfaction with Merz had reached a record high. On June 10 Merz accused the SPD of blocking an infrastructure law, and the coalition agreed not to extend the fuel discount. On June 24 he announced plans to carry out pension reform by the end of the year and rejected cooperation with the Left Party on the issue. A pension commission proposed a funded system with a capital-market element, and Merz and Bärbel Bas were put in charge of the reform. On June 25 the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the German company Bayer, limiting lawsuits over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
The AfD dominated domestic debate. By June 16 it led the Union in polls by nine points, and its leader Alice Weidel said she was ready to lead political change. Courts allowed the domestic intelligence agency to monitor the party in Hesse on June 3 and in Bavaria on June 17, and a legal report classified it as unconstitutional. A petition to ban the party gathered over 1.3 million signatures by June 27. AfD candidates lost runoff elections in two states on June 28. On June 30 Weidel vowed to restore ties with Russia and overturn the EU ban on Russian gas if she becomes chancellor.
In foreign policy, Germany failed for the first time to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council on June 3, in a vote that Portugal and Austria won. The foreign minister called it a "bitter defeat", and Merz announced a new application for 2035-2036. On June 5 Merz and Emmanuel Macron pushed for faster EU enlargement at a Western Balkans summit, and Berlin and Paris later proposed limiting the voting rights of new members. At the EU summit on June 18 and 19, Merz rejected the budget plan as too high, and on June 30 Berlin demanded a €400 billion cut in EU financial planning.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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