Friedrich Merz
German politician (born 1955) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (/mɛərts/; German: [joˈaxɪm ˈfʁiːdʁɪç mɛɐ̯ts]; born 11 November 1955) is a German politician who has served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022 and led the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as well as being Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since February 2022. In September 2024, he became the Union's candidate for Chancellor of Germany ahead of the 2025 federal election. With the CDU winning the most seats in the election, and the CDU/CSU having subsequently reached an agreement to form a coalition with the SPD, Merz is projected to become the next chancellor on 6 May 2025.[1][2][3]
Friedrich Merz | |
|---|---|
 Merz in 2025 | |
| Chancellor of Germany | |
| Assuming office 6 May 2025 | |
| President | Frank-Walter Steinmeier |
| Vice Chancellor | TBD |
| Succeeding | Olaf Scholz |
| Leader of the Christian Democratic Union | |
| Assumed office 31 January 2022 | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Armin Laschet |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| Assumed office 15 February 2022 | |
| Chancellor | Olaf Scholz |
| Preceded by | Ralph Brinkhaus |
| In office 29 February 2000 – 22 September 2002 | |
| Chancellor | Gerhard Schröder |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Angela Merkel |
| Leader of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag | |
| Assumed office 15 February 2022 | |
| First Deputy | Alexander Dobrindt |
| Chief Whip | Thorsten Frei |
| Preceded by | Ralph Brinkhaus |
| In office 29 February 2000 – 22 September 2002 | |
| First Deputy | Michael Glos |
| Chief Whip | Hans-Peter Repnik |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Angela Merkel |
| Member of the Bundestag for Hochsauerlandkreis | |
| Assumed office 26 October 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Patrick Sensburg |
| In office 10 November 1994 – 27 October 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Ferdinand Tillmann |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Sensburg |
| Member of the European Parliament for North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| In office 22 July 1989 – 19 July 1994 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz 11 November 1955 Brilon, West Germany |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union (since 1972) |
| Spouse | Charlotte Gass (m. 1981) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Arnsberg |
| Education | |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | West Germany |
| Branch/service | German Army |
| Years of service | 1975–1976 |
| Unit | Panzer Artillery Training Battalion 310 |
Merz was born in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany. He joined the Young Union in 1972. After finishing law school in 1985, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before entering full-time politics in 1989 when he was elected to the European Parliament. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU. In 2000 he was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the same year as Angela Merkel was elected chairwoman of the CDU, and at the time they were chief rivals for the leadership of the party, which led the opposition together with CSU.[4][5]
After the 2002 federal election, CDU party leader Angela Merkel claimed the parliamentary group chairmanship for herself, while Merz was elected deputy parliamentary group leader. In December 2004, he resigned from this office, thereby giving up the years-long power struggle with Merkel[6][5] and gradually withdrew from politics, focusing on his legal career and leaving parliament entirely in 2009, until his return to parliament in 2021. In 2004 he became a senior counsel with Mayer Brown, where he has focused on mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, and compliance. He has served on the boards of numerous companies, including BlackRock Germany. A corporate lawyer and reputed multimillionaire, Merz is also a licensed private pilot and owns two aeroplanes.[7][8] In 2018, he announced his return to politics. He was elected CDU leader in December 2021, assuming the office in January 2022. He had failed to win the position in two previous leadership elections in 2018,[9][10] and January 2021.[11][12]
As a young politician in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a staunch supporter of anti-communism, the dominant political doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. Merz is seen as a representative of the traditional establishment conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU.[13] His book Mehr Kapitalismus wagen (Venturing More Capitalism) advocates economic liberalism. He has long been considered "exceptionally pro-American"[14] and has been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American friendship and Atlanticism. He is a staunch supporter of the European Union, NATO and the liberal international order, having described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced transatlanticist, and a German open to the world".[15] Merz advocates a closer union and "an army for Europe".[16] He is critical of the Trump administration, having likened the United States under Donald Trump to Russia under Vladimir Putin, criticized American and Russian election interference and said Europe must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially find a replacement for NATO to achieve "independence" from the United States.[17]
Early life and education
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Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz was born on 11 November 1955 to Joachim Merz (born 1924) and Paula Sauvigny (born 1928) in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in then-West Germany.[18] His father was a judge and a member of the CDU.[19] The Sauvigny family was a locally prominent patrician family in Brilon, of French ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Brilon mayor Josef Paul Sauvigny.[20] Merz is Catholic.[21][22][23][24] He was raised in his mother's family home Sauvigny House in Brilon. The house was announced for sale for €2 million in 2021.[25][26]
From 1966 to 1971 Merz studied at the Gymnasium Petrinum Brilon, which he left for disciplinary reasons,[27] moving to the Friedrich-Spee Gymnasium in Rüthen where he finished his Abitur in 1975.[28][29] From July 1975 to September 1976 Merz served his military service as a soldier with a self-propelled artillery unit of the German Army.[30][31] From 1976 he studied law with a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, first at the University of Bonn, later at the University of Marburg. At Bonn he was a member of KDStV Bavaria Bonn, a Catholic student fraternity founded in 1844 that is part of the Cartellverband. After finishing law school in 1985, he became a judge in Saarbrücken. In 1986 he left his position as a judge in order to work as an in-house attorney-at-law at the German Chemical Industry Association in Bonn and Frankfurt from 1986 to 1989.[32]
Merz speaks German, French and English.[33]
Early political career
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In 1972, at the age of seventeen, he became a member of the CDU's youth wing, the Young Union.[18] He became President of the Brilon branch of the Young Union in 1980.
Member of the European Parliament (1989–1994)
Merz successfully ran as a candidate in the 1989 European Parliament election and served one term as a Member of the European Parliament until 1994. He was a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the parliament's delegation for relations with Malta.
Member of the Bundestag (1994–2009)
From the 1994 German elections, he served as member of the Bundestag for his constituency, the Hochsauerland. In his first term, he was a member of the Finance Committee.
In October 1998 Merz became vice-chairman and in February 2000 Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group (alongside Michael Glos), succeeding Wolfgang Schäuble. In this capacity, he was the opposition leader in the Bundestag during Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's first term.
Ahead of the 2002 elections, Edmund Stoiber included Merz in his shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats' campaign to unseat incumbent Schröder as chancellor. During the campaign, Merz served as Stoiber's expert for financial markets and the national budget.[34] After Stoiber's electoral defeat, Angela Merkel assumed the leadership of the parliamentary group; Merz again served as vice-chairman until 2004. From 2002 to 2004, he was also a member of the executive board of the CDU, again under the leadership of Merkel.[6]
In 2005 he has been described by German media as a new member of the Andean Pact,[35] a originally secret network of influential CDU men formed in 1979 by then members of Young Union during a trip to the South American Andes region. The Andean pact stood in opposition to Merkel, especially in the five years before she became chancellor in 2005, after she had become chairperson of the CDU. Years before his admission, Merz had already a "fundamental loyalty" to his peers in the Andean Pact.[5] Between 2005 and 2009, Merz was a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs. In 2006, he was one of nine parliamentarians who filed a complaint at the Federal Constitutional Court against the disclosure of additional sources of income; the complaint was ultimately unsuccessful.[36] By 2007, he announced he would not be running for political office in the 2009 elections.
Private sector career (2009–2018)
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Upon leaving politics, Merz worked as a corporate lawyer. Since 2004 he has been a Senior Counsel at Mayer Brown's Düsseldorf office,[37] where he works on the corporate finance team; before 2004 he was a senior counsel with Cornelius Bartenbach Haesemann.[38] His work as a lawyer and board member has made him a multimillionaire.[39] He has also taken on numerous positions on corporate boards, including the following:
- Robert Bosch GmbH, Member of International Advisory Committee (since 2011)
- WEPA Hygieneprodukte GmbH, Chairman of the supervisory board (since 2009)
- Deutsche Rockwool, Member of the Supervisory Board
- Ernst & Young Germany, Member of the Advisory Board
- Odewald & Compagnie, Member of the Advisory Board
- DBV-Winterthur Holding, Member of the Supervisory Board
- Cologne Bonn Airport, Chairman of the supervisory board (2017–2020)[40][41]
- BlackRock Germany, Chairman of the supervisory board (2016–2020)[42][43]
- Stadler Rail, Member of the Board of Directors (2006–2020)[44][45][46]
- HSBC Trinkaus, chairman of the advisory board (2010–2019)[47]
- Borussia Dortmund, Member of the supervisory board (2010–2014)
- Axa Konzern AG, Member of the supervisory board (2007–2014)[48]
- IVG Immobilien, Member of the supervisory board (2006–2010)
- Deutsche Börse, Member of the supervisory board (2005–2015)
- Interseroh, Member of the supervisory board (2005–2009)[49]
Between 2010 and 2011, Merz represented the shareholders of WestLB, a publicly owned institution that had previously been Germany's third-largest lender, in talks with bidders.[50] In 2012, he joined Norbert Röttgen's campaign team for the North Rhine-Westphalia state election as advisor on economic policy.[51] He served as a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012 and in 2017.[52]
In November 2017, Merz was appointed by Minister-President Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia as his Commissioner for Brexit and Transatlantic Relations, an unpaid advisory position.[53][40]
Friedrich Merz (2004)
Friedrich Merz (2017)
Merz as chairman of the Atlantic Bridge with US defence secretary Ash Carter and German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen in 2015
Return to politics
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After Angela Merkel announced her intention to step down as leader of the CDU party, Merz announced he would run in the subsequent 2018 party leadership election.[9] His candidacy was promoted by the former CDU chairman and "crown prince" of the Kohl era, Wolfgang Schäuble (former President of the Bundestag, ranked second in federal precedence).[54] On 7 December 2018, in the second round of the leadership election, Merz was defeated by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.[9][10]
On 25 February 2020, he announced his candidacy in the first 2021 CDU leadership election.[55] His closest competitors were Armin Laschet and Norbert Röttgen.[56][57] After several postponements, the election of the new CDU party president took place at the party congress on 15–16 January 2021, which was the first time in the party's history that it was held fully online. In the first round, Merz received 385 votes, 5 more than Laschet. In the second round, Merz failed to win the party president's post for the second time, receiving 466 votes out of 1001 delegates, while Laschet received 521 votes.[58][59][60][61]
The same day, after losing the leadership election, Merz proposed to "join the current government and take over the Ministry for Economy". The ministry was already headed by his party colleague Peter Altmaier at the time and the proposal was rebuffed.[62] Laschet was quick to placate Merz by recruiting him to his campaign team. Laschet justified this by saying that Merz was "without doubt a team player" and that his economic and financial expertise could provide crucial help in overcoming the huge challenge of the pandemic in a sustainable way.[63]
Ahead of the 2021 German federal election, Patrick Sensburg, Merz's successor in his seat in the Bundestag, failed to secure his party's support for a new candidacy. Merz instead replaced him, returning to the Bundestag after a 12-year absence.[64]
Chairman of the CDU (2022–present)
On 15 November 2021, Merz announced his candidacy in the second 2021 CDU leadership election.[65][66] His opponents were Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun.[67]
During their short campaign, Merz's rivals positioned themselves as Merkel's heirs. Against them, Merz promised a decisive break with the centrist line Merkel had followed for 16 years.
In total, some 400,000 CDU members were able to vote online or by letter. By 17 December 2021, Merz had already won an absolute majority of 62.1 per cent of the membership in the first round of voting, so a second round of voting was not necessary. This meant that at his third attempt, he managed to win the party presidency. Asked for his reaction to the results of the vote, Merz said: "Quietly I just said to myself, 'WOW'; but only quietly, the winning marching songs are far from me".[68][69][70]
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Merz was formally elected Chairman of the CDU by its 1001 congress delegates at the virtual federal party congress on 22 January 2022. In the end, 915 out of 983 delegates voted for him, winning 94.6% of the valid votes to become the leader of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The vote was formally a so-called "digital pre-vote", the result of which has been confirmed in writing by the delegates.[71][72][73]
After Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Armin Laschet, Merz became the third leader of the Christian Democratic Union within three years.[72] He officially took office as party leader on 31 January 2022.[74]
CDU chancellor candidate (2025)
In September 2024, Merz became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 2025 federal election, after Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) decided not to run and after both declared their support for Merz.[75][76] Due to the collapse of the incumbent governing coalition in November 2024, the election took place seven months ahead of schedule.
Exit polls released following the 2025 federal election showed CDU would win the most seats in the German parliament, albeit with its second worst result ever, thus ensuring Merz the role of Chancellor of Germany.[77][78]
Chancellor-designate (2025–present)
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In the aftermath of the vote, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) initiated coalition talks to form the next government. In the federal election the CDU, led by Merz, emerged as the strongest party but fell short of an absolute majority, necessitating coalition negotiations. The SPD, under the leadership of Lars Klingbeil, entered discussions to explore potential collaboration.[79] The expected CDU/CSU–SPD coalition black-red-coalition would form what is historically referred to in German politics as a Große Koalition (Grand Coalition, although that term describes the coalition of the two biggest parties, which the SPD is not since the 2025 election).[80]
Politico noted that "Merz and other European mainstream leaders increasingly see the U.S. no longer a beacon—that “shining city upon a hill", as Reagan liked to call it—but rather as another force joining Russia and China to chip away steadily at their ever more brittle democracies".[81]
On 5 March 2025, Merz proposed a significant increase in defence spending.[82] He stated at the press conference: "Germany and Europe must quickly strengthen their defence capabilities. The CDU, CSU and SPD will table a motion to amend the Basic Law so that defence spending above 1% of GDP is exempt from the debt brake".[83] This would allow Germany to increase its debt without limits in order to finance its military and provide military assistance to Ukraine.[84][85] Economists have warned that Merz's plan could trigger inflation and increase Germany's government debt.[86] Germany would pay approximately €71 billion in interest annually from 2035.[87] During negotiations for the next German cabinet, Merz and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz reached an agreement to reform the debt brake by amending Paragraphs 109, 115 and 143h of the Basic Law to exempt defence spending exceeding 1% of GDP.[88] Next to the defence spending Merz agreed to create a special fund of €500 billion for "investments in infrastructure and for additional investments to achieve climate neutrality by 2045".[89] On 18 March 2025, German lawmakers approved the amendment to the Basic Law.[90] The change will allow the Merz government to spend €500 billion on infrastructure and green energy within 10 years[91][92] and to have defence spending above 1% of GDP to be exempted from the debt brake; this allows an unlimited debt-based financing of defence spending.[92][93][94] Merz, who had promised to not touch the debt brake rule prior to the german federal election,[95] justified the increase in defence spending by the threat from Russia,[93] citing Putin's "war of aggression against Europe".[94] He called the decision "the first major step towards a new European defense community."[96] He also planned to increase military aid to Ukraine.[97] The trillion-euro spending package was approved before the 21st Bundestag was constituted on 25 March 2025, where The Left and AfD would have the ability to block it.[98] A two-thirds majority was needed to change the constitution.[99] The plan was supported by the CDU, CSU, SPD, and the Greens. Merz's fiscal package was welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.[100]
On 9 April 2025, Merz would successfully secure a deal for a ruling coalition, thus paving the way for him to become Chancellor in his cabinet.[101][102]
On 14 April 2025, it was confirmed that the German parliament would vote on Merz's candidacy for Chancellor on 6 May 2025.[103]
Political positions
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Merz has focused on economic, foreign, security, and family policies. He has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal and is seen as a representative of the traditional establishment conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU.[13]
As a young politician in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a staunch supporter of anti-communism, the dominant state doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. His book Mehr Kapitalismus wagen (transl: Venturing More Capitalism) advocates economic liberalism.
Asylum, migration and integration
Merz says he sees limiting irregular migration as the most important task after the 2025 German federal election.[104] Merz deems Angela Merkel's policy of open borders during the 2015 European migrant crisis to be fatal. In 2024, Merz called for asylum seekers to be comprehensively rejected directly at the border.[a] He believes this would send a signal that would lead to less irregular migration.[109][110] In a 2024 debate about the capacity to accept refugees into Germany, Merz referred to the statement by Saxony's Minister-President Michael Kretschmer, who had spoken out in favour of accepting a maximum of 60,000–100,000 refugees per year. Merz explained that Kretschmer's statement roughly describes "what we can still achieve today with our integration power".[111]
Merz's CDU seeks to speed up visa processing for foreign skilled workers.[112][113]
In October 2023, following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Merz said Germany could not accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza, stating, "We have enough antisemitic young men in the country".[114][115] In December 2024, Merz called for deportations of illegal Syrian immigrants to Syria and a freeze on new admissions of refugees. As chancellor, he aims to "regularly deport" people to Afghanistan and Syria.[116]
Referring to the fact that around 80 percent of the 200,000 applicants for naturalization in 2024 wanted to keep their first citizenship, Merz intends to abolish the fast naturalization (which made it possible for applicants to obtain German citizenship after living in Germany for three to five years)[117] that the traffic light coalition implemented in 2024. Weeks before the 2025 election, he also advocated for a denaturalization (which would require an amendment to the basic law)[118] in cases in which those with multiple citizenship commit crimes after obtaining German citizenship.[119]
After the January 2025 Aschaffenburg stabbing attack, perpetrated by an Afghani migrant who had no residence permits in Germany (and after a series of similar attacks within a few years (de)), Merz called the EU asylum rules—the Dublin, Schengen, and Eurodac agreements—"visibly dysfunctional", stating "Germany must, therefore, make use of its right to the primacy of national law". He announced that under his "leadership, there will be fundamental changes to the right of entry, asylum and residence in the Federal Republic of Germany". Merz said that if he were elected chancellor, on the first day of his term in office, he would instruct the Federal Ministry of the Interior to "permanently control the German state borders", and, "to reject all attempts at illegal entry without exception". There would be "a de facto ban on entry into the Federal Republic of Germany for anyone who does not have valid entry documents".[120][121] He announced a tightening of detention for departure and deportation, and he wants more powers for the federal police.[121] Regarding that, the federal police would be given the right to apply for arrest warrants. Those required to leave the country would no longer be allowed to move freely within the country, and the number of places for deportation detention would increase rapidly.[122]
Social policy
Merz opposed the Bürgergeld (unemployment payment) and, like the CDU,[123] wants to see it abolished and replaced by another system called New Basic Security.[124] The trade union ver.di described CDU plans for basic security as "inhumane and unconstitutional".[125] Merz wants to altogether cancel unemployment payments to those who could work but do not. According to Merz, there are 1.7 million recipients who meet that definition.[109][126]
Merz has been accused of veering between inclusive rhetoric and dog whistling. On a TV talk show, he said that female teachers in German schools were experiencing a lack of respect from "little pashas", apparently referring to sons of Muslim parents, and allegedly made "xenophobic" remarks calling rejected asylum seekers "social tourists" who come to Germany to "get their teeth done". Weeks before, Merz had referred to some Ukrainian refugees as "welfare tourists" and said that many had come to Germany seeking safety, only to then travel back and forth between both countries after securing social benefits, remarks that he later said he regretted. Merz had also complained about "problems with foreigners" and insisted on a German Leitkultur (lit. 'lead culture'), a term that many argue calls for compulsory assimilation.[127][128][129][130] In the 1990s, Merz was in the minority even in his conservative CDU when he voted against liberalizing the abortion law, against preimplantation genetic diagnostics and criminalizing marital rape.[129][131]
Foreign policy
General stance
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Merz is a staunch supporter of the European Union, NATO and the liberal international order. In 2018, he described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced transatlanticist, and a German open to the world" and said that "I stand for a cosmopolitan Germany whose roots lie in Christian ethics and the European Enlightenment and whose most important political allies are the democracies of the West. I gladly use this expression again: The democracies of the West".[132][15] He advocates a closer union and especially closer relations between Germany and France. In 2018, he co-authored an article in defence of the European project, which among other things called for "an army for Europe".[16]
Merz is known for hawkish stances on authoritarian countries, in particular Russia and China. In 2023, Merz called for Germany to involve key allies, especially France, in negotiations with China as part of a rethinking of ties with the country that reflected a global "paradigm shift" in security and foreign policy.[133] He called China "an increasing threat to [German] security",[134] and criticized Scholz's decision to allow China's COSCO to take a stake in the port of Hamburg.[113]
In February 2025, Merz said that Germany would negotiate with France and the United Kingdom about extending their nuclear umbrella to Germany.[135] Merz said, "We need to have discussions with both the British and the French—the two European nuclear powers—about whether nuclear sharing, or at least nuclear security from the U.K. and France, could also apply to us".[136] The move to reconvene the old Bundestag were criticized. Merz received international support for the financial package from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.[137]
United States
Long considered one of the most pro-American politicians in Germany and "exceptionally pro-American for a European leader",[14] he has been the chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American friendship and Atlanticism. He counts former US President Ronald Reagan as one of his role models and has travelled to the US over 100 times.[81][138]
He is critical of the Trump administration and has likened the Trump-led United States to Germany's primary adversary, Putin’s Russia.[citation needed] Merz said the Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia and that the continent must urgently strengthen its defences and potentially even find a replacement for NATO, within months.[17] Merz has criticized the Trump-led United States for alleged election interference after American government officials tried to bolster the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, regarded as extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, comparing it to Russian election interference.[139][140]
Merz has criticized Donald Trump more harshly than Angela Merkel did and has especially criticized Trump's trade war against Europe.[141] In fall of 2024 he said with regards to relations to the US and Russia, he would try to make himself "a little more independent from America", as America would be "in election mode" and "not the regulatory power that we were actually used to".[142] When polls during the 2024 German government crisis predicted that Merz would be the most likely to become the next chancellor, he said that Germany "must go from being a sleeping middle power to becoming a leading middle power again". Germany "never really articulated and enforced its interests well enough [...] The aim is not to benefit only one side, but to make arrangements that are good for both sides. Trump would call it a deal".[126] In January 2025 he said regarding the United States, "We Europeans must be united [...] and those who travel to Washington must not only represent their own interests but the interests of the whole European Union“.[143]
Russia and its invasion of Ukraine
Following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Merz adopted strong pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian positions, urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to supply Ukraine with weapons and personally travelling to Kyiv in May to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[144]
While Merz, as opposition leader, had demanded that the German government of Scholz deliver German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine,[145] he himself said that he would not necessarily deliver Taurus cruise missiles if he were chancellor. As chancellor, he would provide them if Russia or Vladimir Putin did not comply with Germany's and other European countries' request to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and on the condition that France and Great Britain, for their part, lift the range limitation on the weapons they delivered to Ukraine. Merz said he would, as chancellor, try to bring about a European decision on the matter of the question of whether to allow Ukraine to strike against targets deep within Russian territory with Western weapons. He said he would also signal Putin his willingness to talk beforehand.[142] In December 2024 he said that Germany is letting Ukraine fight with one arm strapped on its back. Germany should instead give Ukraine the possibility to defend itself effectively with weapons from Germany.[146]
Conflicts in the Middle East
Merz is a staunch supporter of Israel.[147][148] He does not see any role for Germany as a mediator in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[149] However, Merz has opined that the "two-state solution remains the right long-term goal for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians' recognition of Israel's right to exist is a basic prerequisite on the way there".[150]
In 2023, he said, in response to the United States' admonition to Israel to abide by international law, the US had a different relationship to Israel than Germany, and that Germany has an obligation to help the country "without ifs and buts".[149] In October 2024, Merz successfully urged the German government to resume weapons deliveries to Israel, including spare parts for tanks.[151][152] He proposed stripping dual nationals of their German citizenship for protesting against Israel.[153][154]
He criticized the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes during the Gaza war.[113][155] In February 2025, one day after the 2025 German federal election, he announced his will to invite Netanyahu to Germany, "as an open challenge" to the decision of the ICC.[156][157]
In December 2024, after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, he called on Europe to strengthen its ties with Turkey "to bring political pacification to this region".[158][159]
Energy policy
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Merz called the phase-out of nuclear power in Germany a "grave strategic mistake".[160]
Environmental policy
In April 2023, Merz declared that everyone in the CDU takes the issue of climate change very seriously. However, he went on to claim that the issue of climate change is overrated in the political debate and that the German population does not see the problem as significant as politicians do. Merz went on to deny that time is running out for successful climate change measures and that the country will be on the right track if it makes the right decisions over the next decade.[161][162]
In 2023, Merz opposed the proposed EU phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles and hybrid vehicles by 2035, stating that the fight for net-zero emissions "must be achieved with technology and open-mindedness, not bans".[163]
He blamed the crisis at Volkswagen on the Scholz government's focus on electromobility.[113]
Merz supports a business-friendly adaptation of the European Green Deal.[164]
Approach towards the AfD
In November 2018, he reiterated that the CDU must clearly distance itself from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), reiterating allegations that the latter is openly National Socialist and has antisemitic undertones.[165] In 2019, he claimed that it was right for the CDU to refuse co-operation with the AfD.[166] However, in the same year Merz spoke in favour of a "more calm approach" to the AfD: "I would have long since elected an AfD vice president in the Bundestag (federal parliament). [...] This party was elected with 12.6 percent. It has neither been banned nor classified as unconstitutional. It has millions of voters behind it who should not be made to play the victim".[166] In December 2021, shortly before taking over the party chairmanship, he said: "The state associations [of the CDU], especially in the east, are getting a crystal clear message from us: If anyone raises a hand to work with the AfD, then a party exclusion procedure will take place the next day".[167] However, Merz did not take action against the steadily increasing local cooperation between CDU politicians and AfD politicians from the following year onwards, partially due to the AfD's rising electoral performance. In June 2023, he declared that cooperation between the two parties would only be prohibited in "legislative bodies", by which he meant the EU, federal and state levels. A month later, after being criticized over an apparent failure to implement his "announcement" from December 2021, he reiterated his differentiation regarding political levels and claimed that in local parliaments, "of course [...] we must look for ways to jointly shape the city, the state and the district".[168][169][170] Merz was criticized by large parts of his own party, who feared a crumbling of the firewall against the far right.[171][170] Minister-President of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer (CDU), however, declared that a refusal of cross-party cooperation in substantive decisions at the local level was not sustainable in a democracy.[172] In June 2023, Merz retracted his promise in 2018 to halve the AfD, claiming that his party in the opposition could not halve the AfD if the government counteracted by "strengthening it" with its policies.[173][174][175]
Before the federal election, Merz repeatedly ruled out any possibility of a coalition between CDU and AfD.[143][176][177] Merz passionately stated in early January 2025, that under his leadership "there won't be a cooperation between the CDU and the AfD" – stating that the CDU would "sell its soul" in doing so – and that he "ties his destiny as party chairman" to this commitment.[143] The CDU later that month, after a deadly knife attack perpetrated by an Afghan migrant, who had no residence permit, issued a motion regarding migration into the federal parliament, which attained a majority due to the AfD voting alongside the CDU.[121][178] With this motion, Merz ignored his own proposal, that he uttered in November 2024, to only put questions to the vote that would find a majority without the AfD.[179][180] Merz claimed that the Union has "not spoken to the AfD, does not discuss things with them", or "compare texts", but that it proposes what it "believes to be right in the matter", insisting that putting a motion to a vote in the Bundestag did not constitute co-operation with the AfD.[176][181] The Bundestag went on to reject the CDU's proposed legislation a few days later, largely due to a dozen CDU legislators abstaining, a decision seen to be sparked by the AfD-related controversy.[182][183]
Secondary activities as a member of federal parliament
Merz has been known for his many secondary jobs over several legislative periods. As a member of the Bundestag (federal parliament of Germany), Merz had a total of 18 secondary jobs in the 14th legislative period (2002–2005)[184] and at least 11 secondary jobs in the 15th legislative period (2005–2009).[185] In 2006 alone, Merz was represented on the boards of eight different companies.[186][187] In 2007, Manager Magazine wrote about Merz's secondary jobs:[188][187]
Merz probably earns a nice six-figure sum annually for his work in the law firm. For the year 2006, a conservative estimate shows that Merz's additional income, apart from his lawyer's salary, amounts to a quarter of a million euros.
His many secondary activities raised concerns over whether Merz takes his mandate as a member of the Bundestag seriously and thoroughly.[189] In 2007, Merz wrote a letter to his voters in an attempt to defend himself against criticism of his secondary activities.[190]
In 2021, before the federal election and 12 years after he left the Bundestag in 2009, Merz announced that he would no longer pursue any "professional activities outside of politics" if he were to be re-elected to the Bundestag.[191]
Lawsuit against transparency law or against disclosure of additional income
In 2006, there were discussions about conflicts of interest of members of the Bundestag who carried out other activities in addition to their parliamentary mandate. As a result, an agreement was reached that members of parliament should disclose their income from secondary activities to give the public an opportunity to assess whether their representatives may be harmfully dependent and influenced by financial contributions from third parties. Merz, who at that time had 18 secondary activities in addition to his parliamentary work according to one source, 11 according to another source and 14 according to the management of the Bundestag,[184][192][193] filed a lawsuit with the Federal Constitutional Court together with eight other members of the German Bundestag against the disclosure of their secondary income. At the hearing in October 2006, Merz pointed out that according to Article 38 of the Basic Law of Germany (constitution), members of parliament are "not bound by instructions and are subject only to their conscience". The President of the Bundestag cannot impose sanctions on members of parliament (MPs) for failing to disclose their secondary income, as such an action could be deemed unconstitutional. It has been argued that the regulation may encourage MPs to pursue career politics, potentially distancing them from real-life experiences. Secondary activities are not prohibited; instead, the regulation focuses on disclosing the number and amount of fees received. In July 2007, the Federal Constitutional Court voted four to four to reject a lawsuit, emphasizing that the political mandate must be central to parliamentary activities and highlighting concerns about potential bias from external payments.[194][195]
Millionaire and middle-class debate
In November 2018, when asked in an interview with the tabloid media Bild, Merz said that he was a millionaire (without distinguishing between income and wealth millionaires) and thus would belong in his understanding to the upper middle class. He later specified that he, at that time, earned "around one million euros gross" per year.[196] These statements met with a broad public pushback and sparked wider criticism in Germany.[197][196] Journalists, economists and financial advisors in Germany placed Merz in the upper class.[198] According to the German Federal Bank, at the time in question, one was among the top 5 percent in wealth among the German population with a (total) net worth of at least €722,000. Merz's private assets include real estate and two aircraft.[199][8][196]
LGBT+ people
Merz has made statements about LGBT+ people perceived as insensitive. When asked in 2001 about Berlin's then mayor Klaus Wowereit coming out as gay, he said "as long as he doesn't come near me, I don't care".[200] In November 2018, Merz said that introducing same-sex marriage in Germany was the right thing to do.[201] In September 2020, Merz was asked if he would have reservations about a gay chancellor, and said "concerning the question of sexual orientation, as long as it is within the scope of the law and does not concern children—at this point I reach my absolute limits—it is not an issue for public discussion".[202] He clarified after an outcry that he had not meant to link homosexuality with pedophilia.[129]
Other activities
- Deutsche Nationalstiftung, Member of the Senate[203]
- Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the Jury[204]
- Bayer Foundation for German and International Labour and Business Law, Member of the Board of Trustees (1998–2002)
- KfW, Member of the supervisory board (2003–2004)[205]
- Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Member (1998–2005)
Personal life
Merz is married to judge Charlotte Merz. He has three children and resides in Arnsberg in the Sauerland region.[206][207] In 2005, the couple established the Friedrich und Charlotte Merz Stiftung, a foundation supporting projects in the education sector.[208]
In 2018, Merz rejected the Ludwig Erhard Prize, citing objections to publications by the chairman of the Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Roland Tichy, considered by some to be on the extreme right.[209]
Book
- Friedrich Merz (2008). Mehr Kapitalismus wagen: Wege zu einer gerechten Gesellschaft (in German). Munich: Piper Verlag. ISBN 978-3-492-05157-6. LCCN 2010514604. OCLC 634130092. OL 24354103M. Wikidata Q130425553.
Notes
- The right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution is a human right, as defined in article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations (UN).[105] Germany became a full member of the UN on 18 September 1973. Furthermore, article 16a of the German constitution states that politically persecuted persons have the right to asylum (Politisch Verfolgte genießen Asylrecht),[106] and as Chancellor of Germany, Merz would be sworn to "uphold and defend the constitution" ("das Grundgesetz [...] wahren und verteidigen"),[107] as set out in article 56 of that same constitution, just like Olaf Scholz, the previous Chancellor of Germany, had.[108]
References
External links
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