Friedrich Merz

Born in Brilon on 11 November 1955, Merz joined the Young Union at seventeen and built his early career on anti-communism and pro-business conservatism. He finished law school in 1985, worked as a judge and corporate lawyer, then entered the European Parliament in 1989. A term later he moved to the Bundestag, where he became the CDU's leading financial policy expert and won the parliamentary group chairmanship in 2000 - the same year Merkel took the party chair, setting up a rivalry that defined the next phase of his life. After the 2002 election Merkel claimed his post; he stayed on as deputy until December 2004, when he resigned and began a slow exit, leaving parliament in 2009 to practice law at Mayer Brown and sit on corporate boards including BlackRock Germany. He returned in 2018, failed twice to win the CDU leadership, finally won in December 2021, and became opposition leader. In September 2024 the Union named him chancellor candidate; the CDU/CSU won a plurality in the election and formed a coalition with the SPD. On 6 May 2025, after two rounds of voting - a first in German history - he became chancellor. In office he has tightened borders, stressed fiscal d