Friedrich Merz travels to Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday on his first foreign trip as German chancellor, still reeling from a humiliating setback in Tuesday’s government transition that raised early questions about his leadership.

The day after his dramatic election in parliament as German chancellor, Friedrich Merz set off on the first trip abroad of his administration on Wednesday, heading first for France and then Poland. In Paris,

While already planned, the trip comes only a day after Merz was elected chancellor by parliament on the second round of voting. His unprecedented failure to succeed on the first round underscored disunity in the coalition of his conservatives and Social Democrats.