Germany's Merz vows fresh start after reshuffle sparks backlash

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday promised a fresh start and to communicate better after a chaotic cabinet reshuffle stoked anger within his ruling conservatives.

The discord within the CDU/CSU bloc hit Merz at a time his popularity ratings are low, the economy is flatlining and the far-right AfD is topping the polls ahead of a string of key regional elections.

"We must all reflect together on what we need to do better ... and how we can regain the trust of those who do not trust us today," Merz, in power since May last year, said after a lengthy closed-door meeting of his bloc's MPs.

He stressed he was confident the meeting would "generate new momentum, new dynamism and a renewed effort on the part of us all to lead the country well, to guide our country into a bright future".

Complaints over Merz's high-handed leadership style have boiled over in recent days after a series of personnel changes, some of which appeared in media reports before those affected were told.

At pains to signal humility, Merz, 70, promised that "a key focus of my work will be ensuring good communication" among the government, MPs and the party. "We have agreed on this approach together."

The head of the Bavarian CSU party, Markus Soeder, said recent days had been "admittedly turbulent" and that "there was certainly annoyance at one point or another".

In Wednesday's meeting, which ran two hours overtime, some lawmakers expressed "frustration", the deputy leader of the parliamentary group, Guenter Krings, told Welt TV, adding that "there were, of course, critical comments".

The cabinet reshuffle was sparked by the recent resignation of the CDU's parliamentary leader Jens Spahn.

He stepped down this month after it emerged he and his husband had used a surrogate mother in the United States to have a child, despite the practice being illegal in Germany and vehemently opposed by the CDU.

CDU lawmakers met on Wednesday to crown Thorsten Frei, Merz's chief of staff, as their new leader with 92 percent of the vote.

At that meeting Merz met lawmakers to discuss the reshuffle, including the botched sacking of Patrick Schnieder as transport minister.

Merz's intention to sack Schnieder leaked last week but the minister was left dangling in post after Merz's initial pick for his replacement pulled out.

As he bade farewell to the ministry, Schnieder was given a rapturous round of applause by employees, the Bild newspaper reported, in what the daily interpreted as a rebuke to Merz.

Frei's successor as Merz's chief of staff will be outgoing health minister Nina Warken, who in turn is being replaced by CDU general secretary general Carsten Linnemann.

Both of them along with new Transport Minister Steffen Bilger received their official nominations from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, although they will have to wait until after the summer break to be sworn in at parliament.

Merz, long perceived by sections of the public as detached from voters' concerns by virtue of his business background and private wealth, has been openly scolded by senior CDU figures for the same faults.

The head of the CDU in the northern city-state of Bremen, Heiko Strohmann, told Merz in a recent party meeting that he "was running a political party, not a business".

In contrast to a corporation, "the CDU depends on volunteers, on elected lawmakers, you can't boss them around," Strohmann told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

A CDU state secretary in the health department, Tino Sorge, meanwhile has taken to Facebook to say that Merz had sacked him without bothering to speak to him first, saying this was "a question of (Merz's leadership) style".

Scathing opinion pieces in German newspapers have begun to ask whether Merz will be able to rebuild his standing in the party and even whether he will be able to complete his full term as chancellor.

Stern magazine said Merz's recent behaviour was redolent of "not just an elephant in a china shop... but a mammoth".