Overview

• Sahra Wagenknecht urged abolishing the federal commissioner for the East and suggested a separate West commissioner given problems in some western regions.
• CDU/CSU deputy leader Sepp Müller proposed replacing the role with a nationwide commissioner for structurally weak regions.
• A new IW analysis reported eastern GDP per capita (excluding Berlin) at 71.77% of the western level and projected no near‑term catch‑up, citing population decline, weak R&D, and low investment and start‑up activity.
• Ostbeauftragte Elisabeth Kaiser presented her first annual report, finding that young people from the East more often grow up in low‑income households, which shapes later life chances.
• An Infratest-dimap poll for NDR showed widespread dissatisfaction with reunification in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, especially among AfD and BSW voters, where roughly two‑thirds expressed discontent.