Friedrich Merz never enjoyed the honeymoon customary for a new head of government. When he stood for election to the chancellorship in the Bundestag on May 6th, he fell short of the required absolute majority on the first round. He got there on the second attempt, but it was a sign of things to come. His majority is wafer-thin. Worse, he cannot count on the loyalty of all the deputies in his coalition, made up of his centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).