Eight CDU Premiers Back Chancellor Merz

'Now more than ever, Germany's political landscape needs stability,' eight state premiers from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats wrote in a joint letter on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. The letter backs Merz amid speculation he could resign early after a major state-election defeat. Signatories were the premiers of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin. They also wrote that 'The path to restoring public trust in Christian Democrats lies in listening and taking political action, not in debates over personnel,' and pointed to elections next year in Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece and France. The speculation followed state elections this month in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. The CDU has called a special meeting for Sunday to coordinate its response to those results and demonstrate unity behind Merz. Markus Söder, Bavaria's premier and head of the CDU sister party CSU, has also said he backs Merz. No facts are disputed across the source articles. No outlet in the record frames this along ideological lines. The Sunday meeting is next.