German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s repeated trips to Kiev resemble political “pilgrimages” rather than substantive policy at a time when people at home are losing trust in him, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has said.

Merz’s personal approval has hit a record low, with just 10% of respondents satisfied with his performance as chancellor, according to the latest ARD DeutschlandTrend survey conducted in late September.

In an interview with RT on Monday, Kneissl argued that Merz has failed to deliver on promises of sweeping reforms and a new immigration policy during his first year and a half in office.

“People are losing trust that the promises announced by Chancellor Merz, who has promised a lot in terms of fundamental reforms, in terms of a new immigration policy,” will actually be fulfilled, Kneissl said.

She argued that Merz’s focus on Kiev has done little to reverse that trend, likening his trips to the Ukrainian capital to medieval journeys to holy places.

“I think that to do these, if I may call it, pilgrimages to Kiev, it reminds me of how people used to travel to Rome in medieval times,” Kneissl said. “It’s more a kind of pilgrimage than a real policy.”

Kneissl suggested that such a demonstrative approach is driven by political strategists who still see backing Kiev as a way of rallying voters. “This is what the PR people tell them: do that, because we have to stand with Ukraine,” she said, adding that while the message mobilized people in 2022, it no longer has the same effect at the end of 2026.

Support for Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has meanwhile fallen to 18% nationwide – the lowest level ever recorded by INSA – while the AfD has surged to a record 30%, opening a 12-point lead over the governing conservative alliance.

The CDU has also suffered major setbacks in two regional elections. The AfD won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt against the CDU’s 17.2%, before taking 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the CDU fell to 4.9% and failed to enter the state parliament – the first such result in the party’s history.

Despite the defeats, Merz has refused to change course, pledging to press ahead with Germany’s military buildup, and claiming last month that “we must defend our freedom against Russia.”

Moscow has rejected Berlin’s warnings about an alleged Russian threat, dismissing them as “nonsense.”

WATCH RT’s full interview below: