Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) voiced his skepticism regarding a general reduction of the voting age for the Bundestag elections, particularly addressing the proposal to lower it from 18 to 16 years. Speaking during an open Q&A session at the Catholic Day celebration in Würzburg, he argued that such a change would be difficult to justify if it only affected the right to vote but not the right to run for office.
Merz pointed out that history showed inconsistency in such measures, noting that the previous change from 21 to 18 years later addressed the active voting right, while the passive right remained higher. He stressed that this discrepancy was eventually corrected, binding both rights to full legal adulthood. Therefore, he believes it is necessary for the active and passive electoral rights to remain at the same age.
He emphasized that 18 is the age when individuals attain legal adulthood and full responsibility, and although he is open to counterarguments, nothing has truly convinced him otherwise. Consequently, Merz publicly stated his preference to keep both the active and passive voting rights for the Bundestag at 18 years old.
It should be noted that while the current voting age for the federal parliament remains 18, EU Parliament elections allow voting as early as 16. Furthermore, several individual German states already call 16-year-olds to vote in state and local elections.
