When a government resorts to a private PR firm to build its image, that alone speaks volumes for the state of the new government, six months after assuming office. The climate of temporary euphoria that he wanted to create, promising that everything will go better and that already from the summer, citizens will feel the change in their daily lives, while, it seems, the written government agreement with the ambitious goals, is not expected to become a “bestseller”, as the Prime Minister of Bavaria and president of the Christian Socialists Markus Zender jokingly announced, causing sneers of political analysts.
“On the Golden Stag”
In an attempt to reverse the climate, deputy government spokesman Stephen Meyer announced the other day the launch of a campaign entitled “Here’s what Germany can do”, which will run throughout the parliamentary term. With posters, ads and a presence on all social media, the positive narrative will be highlighted, the positive news that gets lost in the everyday noise. The implementation of the campaign was entrusted to a company with the imaginative title “Zum goldenen Hirschen” (To the golden deer).
According to its website, the company “creates innovative campaigns and communication strategy for ministries, institutions and companies”. In addition to the Federal Press Service, its clients include, among others, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the Federal Printing Office and the Ministry of Economy and Energy.
With smart campaigns, the Mertz government hopes to overturn the climate of mistrust and disprove predictions that it will not last long. In a poll by the INSA polling institute, on behalf of the newspaper Bild, only 32% of respondents believe that the government will run out of four years, while 49%, i.e. one in two, believe that it will dissolve prematurely, as happened with the previous Solz government.
Prior to the election, Mertz had promised that disagreements between the partners would not be made public, as during Soltz’s chancellorship. But that’s exactly what happened. Whether it concerns the contentious issue of tightening the so-called basic income for categories of citizens with financial problems, or the gradual implementation of mandatory military service for the needs of the army, the two partners publicly quarrel over the smallest thing, creating insecurity in the citizens and grumbling in the party staffs. The latest case, the public admission of the self-evident by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yohan Vandeful, after a visit to a suburb of Damascus, that it will be difficult to return Syrian refugees to such a damaged area.
The bar is high, but…
Some caught quarter-fever, given that speeding up deportation procedures for Syrian criminals and potential terrorists, and secondly, irregular migrants, in Syria is a top priority and a policy tool against the rise of the far-right AfD. But the real problems are deeper, almost systemic.
Stagnation of development, freezing of construction activity in a country with an acute housing problem, the monster of bureaucracy, which is a burden on every manifestation of economic activity, destructive railway infrastructure, the slow pace of digitization of public administration, are some of them. The creation, for the first time in the country, in 2025, of a Ministry of Digitization and Modernization of the State, is a move in the right direction. In fact, the minister who took over, has no relation to politics, was a manager and held high management positions in communications companies.
The amount of the campaign that will be allocated to give the German government a lift in its public image, remains unknown. “The exact amount will be known at the end,” the deputy government spokesman said, raising reasonable questions given that amounts are usually budgeted. A year after the premature dissolution of the previous Solz government, the current government is already looking tired. With the campaign, she will try to convince that she is better than her reputation. Of course, he rushed to set the bar high during the pre-election period, promising bold reforms of a cobwebby state, and now he is in danger of going under.
