Overview
- The CDU/CSU parliamentary group presented Merz with a Germany flag taken from a Reichstag tower with Bundestag President Julia Klöckner's permission, with the flag to be replaced.
- Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil gifted a framed note reading "Verantwortung für Deutschland" from the coalition talks and praised a now stable working relationship with the chancellor.
- Roughly 300 invited guests from across parties attended the closed reception in the Reichstag, where Jens Spahn added three motif ties to Merz’s collection.
- CSU leader Markus Söder gave a Bavarian lion paperweight and a Franz Josef Strauß figure, and several attendees later described his speech as "grenzwertig."
- Fresh Forsa polling shows only 18% favor a renewed Merz candidacy and the Union at 24%, two points behind the AfD; the CDU’s Senioren-Union publicly invited the now 70-year-old to join.