Overview
- Unionsfraktionschef Jens Spahn warned the partners are “losing together” in “brutal” polling, as tensions spill into both camps with CDU critics forming the new Compass Mitte group to challenge the party’s course.
- A members’ petition inside the SPD targets the Bürgergeld overhaul with tougher sanctions and a rebranding to “basic security,” launching with 167 initial signatories and steep formal thresholds that party leaders still expect to withstand.
- A cross‑party Wehrdienst compromise featuring a lottery selection was halted by SPD Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, with the SPD pointing to a party decision favoring voluntariness and the Union pushing for more compulsory elements.
- The cabinet’s pensions bill that fixes a 48% level beyond 2031 faces resistance from the CDU’s Junge Gruppe, which says costs would burden younger generations and could block passage unless changes are made; SPD leaders reject diluting the guarantee.
- The Greens remain unsettled by weak leadership approval and factional fights between Realos and the left, highlighted by a Kreuzberg chapter’s criminal complaint against Chancellor Friedrich Merz and growing pressure ahead of pivotal 2026 state elections.