Overview

• The episode airs Sunday, 5 October 2025 at 21:45 on Das Erste, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz as the sole guest.
• The program focuses on doubts about Merz’s declared “Autumn of Reforms” after roughly six months in office, as coalition satisfaction falls and some polls place the AfD ahead of the Union.
• Caren Miosga plans to press how he intends to regain trust among citizens and within his party and how he will lift a weak economy as businesses call for structural change.
• The discussion will examine societal cohesion in the context of the 35th anniversary of German reunification.
• Reporting notes Merz presented a modernization agenda earlier this week aimed at leaner state structures and more digital administration.