Is Merz Right About The EU?

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]My god, Meritt is really starting to do my  head in. And to be very honest with you, when he got elected like a year ago, I was super  excited. I know not everyone liked him back then, but I really thought he was someone that could  bring Germany forward, make the reforms that are so so necessary, but also take Europe forward.  He had good relationships with Macron, good with Tusk and so on. And I really thought he would do a  lot for European unity and bringing this continent forward. But once again this morning, I was super  disappointed seeing this article where Meritz and his CDU are piling pressure on Fonderline to  dismantle what they call the Brussels machine. And in a nutshell, what he's saying is that there's  too many laws or too much regulation coming from Brussels and that the commission needs to be well  reduced in their power. And the way or one of the solutions they're coming up with is to create,  yes, I kid you not, another EU body that would look at everything coming out of the European  Commission and would then be able to veto it. So, for example, when Fonderline and her team come up  with something that we need to do in the European Union, that organization or that body could  just veto it. I I honestly don't understand how that's going to solve the bureaucracy in  Brussels. creating yet another body. Really, is that going to solve things? I doubt it. And  for me, this is a typical situation where Meritz is kind of shifting focus on Brussels from  all the trouble he's having at home. You know, Brussels, the typical scapegoat. We've seen this  storyline so much before or so often before in other European countries. And you know why? I live  in Germany and I can tell you the coalition of the CDU, the CSU and the SPD who's currently running  Germany, it's simply not working. They are not welll liked to start off with. I mean Meritz's  uh approval ratings are at I think lower now than Schultz was at the same time in his career.  And the coalition, the SPD for example, they are suffering like terrible terrible polls in all of  the um yeah German poll numbers which is obviously not good for them. So yeah, the government is  not doing well. Let me give you an example of something that happened only in the last couple of  weeks. As you all know, energy prices have spiked all across Europe, all across the world actually.  And the German government has now finally acted to do two measures. Firstly, they're reducing tax on  oil by about 17 cents. This obviously means that people at the at the pump will have to pay less  for their petrol. This is not so controversial, but the second measure has been way more  controversial. And the way it works is that the government is giving a voluntary bonus, so to  speak, that companies can pay to their employees.

[00:02:49]And this is €1,000. And and let me explain. So  a company can now give a bonus to an employee of €1,000. And this will be taxfree. So yeah,  this is obviously a bit controversial because instead of the government handing out money  or trying to help the citizens of Germany, they're kind of forcing companies to do so. Yes,  it is voluntary, but I mean, imagine what kind of situation this creates in a company where all  of the sudden all the employees know, well, my boss could be paying me €1,000, but they're  not. So, what do you think will happen? It creates all kinds of stress and friction between  management and employees. And this is at a time when the German economy is not doing well,  right? It doesn't need measures like this, which will cost them money and will hurt them. And well,  yeah, that's pretty much what the businessfriendly coalition is now doing here in Germany. And  there's so many more examples of things like this. Germany is really at a crossroads, right?  There's so much that needs to be reformed. One is healthcare, for which we're waiting for a reform  package that will save Germany tens of billions of euros that they need from next year's onwards  because it's simply too expensive here. We're also waiting for a pension reform system because that's  also spiraling out of control. Just imagine that more than 25% of Germany's budget goes into  pensions and that is on top of the pension contributions that companies and employees make  every month which is insane. And then there's the German tax system too. When you make over  I think it's about €60,000 42% goes to taxes.

[00:04:25]Now that is way above the European average. And  then there's many many more examples. These are all problems that Meritz and his coalition need to  fix at home. And rather than actually doing that, they're now going to blame the EU for red tape.  I'll tell you that I really don't think that the EU is the big problem here. Germany needs to  reform. And yeah, the EU needs to reform too for sure, but Germany's biggest problems need to  be handled by the coalition at home. And this is where I really wish just a little bit more vision  from Meritz and from Germany, both for Europe and for Germany. Instead of that, I'm only seeing  nos. Euro bonds. Just the other day, again, there was a big no from Merits. Increasing  the European budget for the European Union, another big no from Merits. And then when it comes  to Germany itself, where a big reform package is needed, I currently am hearing very, very little  because the way I see it, everything is savable still. Now, at this point in the coalition in  Germany, things can still be saved. And what I would love is for the SPD and the CDU and the CSU,  who's also a bit difficult, to stand in front of Germany and propose a package that kind of hurts  everyone in Germany. I mean, currently there's just proposals coming here and there that only  hurts a couple of people in Germany or a certain segment in Germany and maybe not the others and  that infuriates people. But I think if a package is presented where everyone in Germany has to  contribute a little. So the richest might get a little bit more taxes. The social systems might  get a reduction here and there. For the pensions, people might have to work just a little bit  longer. For health care, maybe you should go to a normal doctor before a specialist or maybe  you should also not visit as many doctors. Things like that. All of these things in one single  package could be presented to the German people.

[00:06:16]And I think it is doable to push that through  and thereby revitalize both Germany and yeah the German economy right because now again the  prediction of growth has been cut from 1% which is already so so low in Germany to 0.5% which is  well for a superpower like Germany and Europe way way too low and there is countries in Europe that  have higher rates so it is possible and that also brings me over to the European perspective here  too I want more vision from merits, right? I would love to know or love to have statements about  how we're going to reform the European Union to make it more competitive, not a new body that  has a veto right. That will not improve things in the long run at all. Reform the EU and give the  European Union more power in areas where it makes sense. Foreign policy, yes, that makes sense.  Industrial policy, yeah, that might make sense, too. But maybe social policy and other policies  which is just better to be managed regionally closer to the people. Maybe that's where we should  consider giving some power back from the EU to the member states. Things like that. A vision. A  vision of how the European Union could look like in 2030 2035. Not these silly little red  tape fixes which will lead nowhere but to just more jobs in Brussels. That's not a way forward.  So please merits please Macron. Macron it's your last term anyway. and also Sanchez in Spain, Tusk  in Poland, come together and create a European vision. I think people would buy it and you  will get votes because of it. Anyway, thank you so much for watching and thank you to all of our  presidents on this channel. You make all of this possible. And if you want to support us further,  do sign up to Patreon or hear the memberships on the channel because your support makes these  videos possible. Thank you and see you in the next