Overview

• The central Festakt begins in Saarbrücken with Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivering the address and France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaking as honored guest alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and Bundesratspräsidentin Anke Rehlinger.
• Merz has signaled a forward-looking speech focused on urgent domestic challenges and lifting the national mood, with talk of a possible “new Ruck” tone circulating after the cabinet retreat.
• A large Bürgerfest with a Ländermeile and around 600 performers is drawing heavy crowds through Saturday, and authorities have imposed a flight and drone ban over Saarbrücken.
• Surveys spotlight ongoing divides: YouGov finds 30% nationwide—and 43% in the East—say more separates than unites, while nine in ten deem reunification right yet many see problems as still unresolved in ZDF and ARD tracking.
• SED victims’ commissioner Evelyn Zupke calls the day one of gratitude for former political prisoners, Angela Merkel questions the guest list’s balance, and the nationwide “Deutschland singt & klingt” candlelight events are set for the evening with Merz expected in Halle.