Who is Friedrich Merz, Conservative leader set to become new German Chancellor?
Germany’s conservative leader Friedrich Merz is set to lead the nation after his party, Christian Democratic Union, bagged the biggest vote share in the country’s general elections, defeating Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany.
The bloc led by Friedrich Merz, which constitutes of his party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and also Christian Social Union (CSU) won 28.5 per cent of votes, followed by Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has 20.7 per cent to its name, as per German broadcaster ARD.
Who is Friedrich Merz
Born on November 11, 1955 in Germany’s Brilon town, Merz comes from a family with a strong background of legal practice. Merz began studying law in 1976, however, he has been a part of CDU since 1972. He married Charlotte Merz in 1981, who was a fellow lawyer and is now a judge, and has three children with her.
In 1989, Merz was elected to the European Parliament and in 1994, he made his way to the Bundestag, the German federal parliament after winning an absolute majority in Hochsauerlandkreis constituency, according to Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a German think tank.
Merz held key positions in the CDU and went on to become the party’s parliamentary leader in 2000. However, he ceded the position to Angela Merkel in 2002. After a political setback in 2005, when the CDU/CSU bloc formed a government in Germany along with SPD, Merz found himself sidelined and decided to leave active politics in 2009. He then went on to make a glorious career in law and finance.
After around 10 years, he made a comeback in politics after Merkel announced her retirement in 2018. However, he lost his bid to succeed Merkel by a thin margin to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. In 2020, he was presented with another chance to the top post after Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she would step down from the party post. He again, however, wasn’t considered for succession as the party played its bet on Armin Laschet.
It was during his third bid in 2021 that Merz made a comeback in the German parliament, however, his party was defeated. In 2022, he took over the reins of the party after emerging as a favourite choice and became CDU’s national chairman.
Merz’ harsh stance on undocumented immigrants and reviving Germany’s economy are among the promises he plans to deliver on. The major challenge facing Merz is the formation of a coalition government to consolidate power and lead Germany.
