Friedrich Merz will be Germany’s next Chancellor: 5 things about the leader, from his history to political rise

The tall Friedrich Merz, who has never held a position in the German administration, led the CDU/CSU to victory on Sunday. Here's what you need to know.

The results of Germany's parliamentary elections on Monday, February 25, were as anticipated. With the biggest percentage of the vote (28.5%), the Conservative Democratic Union party and its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), have won.

Friedrich Merz, who is expected to become the next Chancellor or head of state, is in charge. At the party headquarters in Berlin on Sunday, he said to his supporters, "Let's get the party started." The 69-year-old will be serving in the German cabinet for the first time after this election.

With 20.8% of the vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second, despite surveys and opinion polls predicting the CDU/CSU's rise. This was the first in a nation whose political parties have worked to prevent parties with radical views from gaining power since World War II, a practice known as "the firewall." To keep the AfD out of power, the CDU/CSU is anticipated to form an alliance with the SPD.

Here are some facts about Merz.

Origins in the aristocracy
In 1955, Merz was born in Brilon, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, into an aristocratic political family. His maternal grandfather was the mayor of Brilon, while his father was a judge and CDU member.

He has previously characterized himself as a troublemaker who began smoking and drinking at a young age and as an average student. In 1972, Merz joined Young Union, the CDU's youth arm, and in 1980, he was elected head of the Brilon section.

Merz briefly served in the army upon his graduation from school in 1975. On a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the foundation of the Christian Democratic Party, he began studying law at the University of Bonn in 1976.


Prior to going full-time into politics, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer after graduating in 1985. In 1989, he was elected to the European Parliament, and the following year, he was elected to the German parliament, the Bundestag. Under the guidance of party leader Wolfgang Schäuble, he rose through the ranks and established himself as the party's financial policy expert.

02 There is still love for Angela Merkel.
The political battle between Merz and Angela Merkel, who represent radically divergent paths for the CDU, would make Merz most famous. Merz stood for the party's conservative old guard, or leitkultur, while Merkel guided the party in a liberal direction.

In 2000, Merkel was elected chairperson of the CDU, and he was chosen chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.


After a protracted power struggle, Merkel defeated Merz and the CDU/CSU won the 2002 federal election. Merz resigned in December 2004 after two years of service as deputy. He left politics gradually, leaving the Bundestag in 2009.

In 2018, he came back just as Merkel was getting about to resign. In 2022, a year after the party's defeat by the SPD in the parliamentary election, he won the party's third attempt at leadership.

a firm position on migration
By breaking "the firewall" to attempt to pass a law in Parliament with the AfD's backing in January, Merz courted controversy. He pushed for a non-binding vote to turn away more migrants at the nation's border amid a wave of knife assaults involving suspects who were immigrants or asylum-seekers.

Although the public and all parties, with the exception of the AfD, opposed this action, Merz defended it as necessary. On the floor of the parliament, he stated, "Yes, it might be that the AfD will allow a necessary law to be passed for the first time." However, "we are faced with the choice of standing up and doing what is indisputably necessary in this matter," or "continuing to watch helplessly as people in our country are threatened, injured, and murdered."

It's possible that this choice and the party's later support for stricter immigration laws contributed to the CDU/CSU's current standing as a mainstream party that is anti-immigration.

Changing ties with the United States
Merz has attempted to disassociate Germany's destiny from US influence in light of recent statements made by Donald Trump and his administration.

Elon Musk and US Vice President JD Vance have been endorsing the AfD in recent weeks, which many have interpreted as American meddling in the election. As the breach between the United States and Ukraine became more apparent, Trump also referred to Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, as a "dictator."

"My top priority will be to fortify Europe as soon as possible so that we can actually attain independence from the USA, step by step," he continued. His long-held pro-US beliefs, as a politician and corporate lawyer who regularly visited the US on business, are a far cry from this.
A strong corporate attorney and pilot
Merz established a strong reputation as a corporate lawyer in financial institutions during his political sabbatical. He served as the head of BlackRock's German supervisory board for a while.

In addition, he is an enthusiastic pilot who is known to fly his tiny aircraft from his home in North Rhine-Westphalia to Berlin once a week. But this has given his detractors more clout in accusing him of being disconnected from the average German citizen.