09-07-2025
How Germany's great conservative hope became Friedrich Merz's greatest liability
BERLIN – There was a time when the world considered Jens Spahn, the pugnacious German conservative, as his country's chancellor-in-waiting.
Young, gay and provocative, Spahn shattered the mould of the stuffy, pipe-smoking, Kohl-era German conservative of yore. Even the left-leaning Guardian was enthralled, calling him in 2016 "the man who could replace Merkel".
That was then. Though Spahn went on to become a minister and now holds one of the most powerful positions in German politics as leader of the Christian Democrats' parliamentary group – a post that served as a final stepping stone for both Friedrich Merz and Angela Merkel en route to the chancellery – few would put money on his prospects these days.
In recent weeks, the 45-year-old former health minister has become mired in the first major scandal of Merz's chancellorship. The affair, which concerns the role Spahn played during the pandemic in doling out mask contracts, has reverberated amid a broader reckoning in Germany over how the government and health officials dealt with the pandemic. The optics are devastating. Spahn's ministry spent some €6 billion on 5.8 billion face masks – often without a competitive tender and in some cases at inflated prices. Some procurement contracts went to a company from his small Westphalian constituency, others were linked to recommendations from fellow party members. Spahn denies any wrongdoing. A Merkel critic
Spahn – tall, square-jawed, and articulate – is an unusual star of the Christian Democrats' conservative wing.
Having entered the German Parliament at only 22, the openly gay MP made a name for himself as a critic of Merkel's liberal migration policy during the mid-2010s. Spahn's willingness to speak truth to power – even in his own ranks – helped make the telegenic young conservative the face of the CDU's new generation.
Once Spahn's rising prominence made him impossible to ignore, a reluctant Merkel relented and brought him into her cabinet in 2018 as health minister, a daunting brief that was widely seen as a test.
Two years later, the once-in-a-century pandemic hit, triggering a series of fateful mistakes by Spahn that now threaten his political future. Murky mask deals
Germany's National Court of Auditors concluded in 2025 that only a third of all the masks ordered under Spahn were eventually used. More than half were destroyed. Some of the orders were not accepted by the ministry due to quality issues, prompting lawsuits from suppliers.
The court had already criticised Spahn's approach in 2021, but the lawmaker managed to emerge largely unscathed from the revelations until he took on his new post as the Christian Democrats' parliamentary chief.
A probe commissioned by Spahn's successor, Karl Lauterbach, a Social Democrat (SPD), and authored by Margaretha Sudhof, a civil servant and fellow SPD member, surfaced in April, just weeks after Spahn took on his new role.
The 170-page report, published in full in June, suggests Spahn ignored warnings from expert staff about the mask contracts. An un-redacted version of the report was recently leaked to the media and contains Sudhoff's scathing judgments on some of the deals – among them, contracts that paid €7 per mask, prices that were "difficult to comprehend."
Spahn, who has since undergone a hearing in front of the budget committee, insisted he acted in good faith.
'It was a once-in-a-century crisis and an emergency situation' he said. 'In times of need, having something is more important than needing it.'
He acknowledged taking financial risks to procure scarce masks and "first talking to people I knew in an emergency," but denied any impropriety. Internal calculus
Years on, the mask contracts are causing a headache for Merz, even though he wasn't in government at the time. The scandal hit just as Merz's approval ratings had started to recover following a backlash over concessions he made during coalition talks.
Opposition parties have been pushing for an official parliamentary inquiry, which could lead to months of damaging headlines and testimony.
Parliamentary metrics, however, are likely to work in Merz's favour: The Greens and The Left, two left-wing parties, would have to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to reach the required quorum for setting up an inquiry – probably a bridge too far for both.
The opposition would thus need support from at least eight defectors from the CDU and their coalition partners, the Social Democrats, who are nominally bound by coalition discipline.
Still, the optics are damaging.
The current health minister, Nina Warken, also from the CDU, first refused to publish the report. Then she published only a redacted version of the report, citing privacy concerns and lashing out at Sudhof's methodology. The latter has been a preferred line of attack of Spahn's CDU peers, who have so far unreservedly backed Spahn.
The CDU's number two, General Secretary Carsten Linnemann, said on Monday that he saw "nothing new" in the unredacted version, but "subjective, personal statements about Mr Spahn by Ms Sudhof."
Merz had previously criticised the Sudhof's report for failing to consult Spahn himself. Spahn's future Above all, the report puts a question mark over Spahn's credibility and political future.
He had long had a sense for staying on the winning side: first opposing Merz's second bid for the party leadership in favour of the subsequent winner Armin Laschet, then switching camps when Laschet failed to win the chancellery in 2021.
Spahn also shook off a previous scandal involving a loan he received from a local bank on whose board he served. Spahn and his husband used to fund the purchase of a multi-million-euro villa in Berlin, but sold it in 2023 amid a public uproar over the credit.
Like that affair, the latest uproar has raised fundamental questions about Spahn's judgement and credibility.
So far, Merz is sticking with Spahn. The only question is for how long.
(mm)
