Overview

• BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht urged abolishing the federal post for the East, arguing special treatment is obsolete and quipping that a “West commissioner” might be more fitting.
• CDU deputy floor leader Sepp Müller proposed replacing the role with a nationwide commissioner for structurally weak regions.
• Current commissioner Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD) released her first annual report finding unequal starting opportunities, with many young people from the East growing up in low‑income, low‑asset families.
• An Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft analysis reported East German GDP per capita at 71.77% of the West’s level, down from 72.04% in 2023, citing population decline, weak R&D, low investment and few large firms, with proposals including later retirement and more immigration to ease labor shortages.
• An Infratest‑dimap poll for NDR in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern found high dissatisfaction with reunification, especially among AfD and BSW voters.