friedrich merz

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (German: [mɛɐts]; 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, Merz is projected to become the next Chancellor.
Merz was born in Brilon, North Rhine-Westphalia, 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.
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 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. 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, and January 2021.
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. His book Mehr Kapitalismus wagen (Venturing More Capitalism) advocates economic liberalism. He has long been considered "exceptionally pro-American" 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". Merz advocates a closer union and "an army for Europe". He is known for a hawkish stance on Russia and China, and is critical of the Trump administration. He has 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.

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