Germany’s Green party has hit a record high in the polls and is now just one percentage point behind Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, according to the latest survey.

The ecologists’ surge comes after the party pulled off a strong result in the European parliament elections last month, when they beat the centre-left social democrats (SPD) into third place.

The Forschungsgruppe Wahlen survey for ZDF television has the Greens on 26 per cent, the party’s highest reading ever from the pollster since it established the series in 1991. The chancellor’s Christian Democrat CDU party is on 27 per cent.

The SPD was far behind on just 13 per cent – having just lost another leader, who resigned over poor results.

The poll, which is broadly in line with the direction of other surveys, will raise pressure on the SPD – which is facing internal dissent over its continuation with the alliance with Ms Merkel.

Green gains were not just confined to Germany in the EU elections. In the UK the Green Party more than doubled its number of MEPs, while Les Verts pulled off a third-placed result in France.

Ecologists also did well in Ireland, Finland, and Belgium – bringing the Green group in the European parliament up to at least 74 MEPs.

It is not clear whether the Greens’ surge in Germany will last: the party has had bounces in polls before, but it has previously tended to fade away.

However, the country could be facing an early general election if the SPD’s new leader decides to pull the plug on the grand coalition with Ms Merkel, and she is unable to form another government with the support of other parties.

The SPD’s historically very weak polling could encourage the party to resist another elections, however – despite calls for it to head into opposition to lick its wounds and rebuild.