Meet Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new political leader
Germany’s election results are in – and, from the looks of things, we are set to see a very different leadership style brought to the country.
In speeches, he said “intervention” from Washington recently has been “no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less brazen, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow”.
With the social democrat Olaf Scholz conceding defeat to the centre-right in Germany’s election, Mr Merz will have to assemble a coalition government, which will involve some tough negotiations, but Europe’s leaders can be expected to treat him as a “chancellor in waiting”.
Here is everything we know about man in line to become the new German chancellor.
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a 69-year-old politician who has served as leader of the Christian Democratic Union since January 2022. He is known to be a Roman Catholic.
He was named as the Union’s candidate for chancellor of Germany ahead of the 2025 election. With the CDU winning the most seats in the 2025 German federal election, Merz is now in line to become the next chancellor of Germany.
The politician was born in Brilon and has long been involved in politics, joining the CDU’s Young Union movement in 1972.
As well as an interest in politics, he trained to become a lawyer, graduating law school in 1985.
In his career, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before leaving his job to enter the political stage full-time in 1989, when he was elected to the European Parliament.
He has dipped in and out of politics during his life, but has always worked as a corporate lawyer, specialising in banking and financial matters.
It is estimated he is a multimillionaire and also is a private pilot, owning two planes.
He is also married with three children.
His wife, Charlotte Merz, is a judge, and the pair share three children.
What has he previously done in his career?
As a young politician, he was anti-communism, the main political belief of the then-West `Germany.
After serving one term, Mr Merz 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 and battled throughout the coming years with opposing leader and chancellor Angela Merkel.
In December 2004, Mr Merz resigned from this office, thereby giving up the years-long power struggle with Ms Merkel, and gradually withdrew from politics, focusing on his legal career and leaving parliament entirely in 2009.
He returned to his legal work, and helped with mergers, banking, and finance and acquisitions of companies.
In 2018, he announced his return to politics and 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.
What is his view on German-US relations?
Mr Merz has long been a supporter and advocate for maintaining excellent relationships with the US, but this has changed following President Donald Trump’s election win.
Previously, he has always been known as one of the most pro-American politicians in Germany.
Mr Merz worked as the chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association – a group that promotes German-American understanding and “Atlanticism” – the act of boosting relationships in both countries’ interests.
He is also a staunch supporter of the European Union and Nato and, in the past, has been known to describe himself as “a truly convinced European”.
However, the stance seems to have changed somewhat, as he has been openly critical of the Trump administration and has compared the Trump-led United States to the dictatorship in Putin’s Russia.
He has said Europe must urgently strengthen its defences and potentially find a replacement for Nato.
