Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (German: [mɛʁts]; born 11 November 1955) is a German conservative politician serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the parliamentary group of CDU/CSU (Union) as well as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since 15 February 2022. In September 2024 Merz became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2025 federal election.
Merz joined the Young Union in 1972. After finishing law school in 1985, he 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. 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 state doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. Merz has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal, and 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 been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism, and is a staunch supporter of the European Union and NATO, having described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced "transatlanticist". Merz advocates a closer union and "an army for Europe".
Merz is Catholic and of French Huguenot descent on his mother's side. His wife, Charlotte Merz, is a judge; they have three children. A corporate lawyer and reputed multimillionaire, he is also a licensed private pilot and owns two airplanes.
Background and early life
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz was born on 11 November 1955 to Joachim Merz (born 1924) and Paula Sauvigny (born 1928) in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in then-West Germany. His father was a judge and a member of the CDU. The Sauvigny family was a locally prominent patrician family in Brilon, of French Huguenot ancestry, and his maternal grandfather was mayor of Brilon. His maternal grandfather Josef Paul Sauvigny was a member of the Zentrum party from 1917 to 1933. In 1933 he joined the SA and in 1938 the NSDAP.
Friedrich Merz is Roman Catholic. Merz was raised in his mother's family home Sauvigny House in Brilon. The house was announced for sale for 2 million euros in 2021.
After finishing his Abitur exam in 1975 Merz served his military service as a soldier with a self-propelled artillery unit of the German Army. From 1976 he studied law with a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, first at the University of Bonn, later at the University of Marburg. At Bonn he was a member of KDStV Bavaria Bonn [de], a Roman Catholic student fraternity founded in 1844 that is part of the Cartellverband. After finishing law school in 1985, he became a judge in Saarbrücken. In 1986 he left his position as a judge in order to work as an in-house attorney-at-law at the German Chemical Industry Association in Bonn and Frankfurt from 1986 to 1989.
Merz speaks German, French and English.
Political career prior to 2009
In 1972, at the age of seventeen, he became a member of the CDU's youth wing, the Young Union. He became President of the Brilon branch of the Young Union in 1980.
Member of the European Parliament, 1989–1994
Merz successfully ran as a candidate in the 1989 European Parliament election and served one term as a Member of the European Parliament until 1994. He was a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the parliament's delegation for relations with Malta.
Member of the German Bundestag, 1994–2009
From the 1994 German elections, he served as member of the Bundestag for his constituency, the Hochsauerland. In his first term, he was a member of the Finance Committee.
In October 1998 Merz became vice-chairman and in February 2000 Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group (alongside Michael Glos), succeeding Wolfgang Schäuble. In this capacity, he was the opposition leader in the Bundestag during Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's first term.
Ahead of the 2002 elections, Edmund Stoiber included Merz in his shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats' campaign to unseat incumbent Schröder as chancellor. During the campaign, Merz served as Stoiber's expert for financial markets and the national budget. After Stoiber's electoral defeat, Angela Merkel assumed the leadership of the parliamentary group; Merz again served as vice-chairman until 2004. From 2002 to 2004, he was also a member of the executive board of the CDU, again under the leadership of Merkel.
In 2005 he has been described by German media as a new member of the Andean Pact (de), a originally secret network of influential CDU men formed in 1979 by then members of Young Union during a trip to the South American Andes region. The andean pact stood in opposition to Merkel, especially in the five years before she became cancellor in 2005, after she had become chairperson of the CDU. Years before his admission, Merz had already a “fundamental loyalty” to his peers in the Andean Pact. Between 2005 and 2009, Merz was a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs. In 2006, he was one of nine parliamentarians who filed a complaint at the Federal Constitutional Court against the disclosure of additional sources of income; the complaint was ultimately unsuccessful. By 2007, he announced he would not be running for political office in the 2009 elections.
Business career in the private sectors
Upon leaving politics, Merz worked as a corporate lawyer. Since 2004 he has been a Senior Counsel at Mayer Brown's Düsseldorf office, where he works on the corporate finance team; before 2004 he was a senior counsel with Cornelius Bartenbach Haesemann. His work as a lawyer and board member has made him a multimillionaire. He has also taken on numerous positions on corporate boards, including the following:
- Robert Bosch GmbH, Member of International Advisory Committee (since 2011)
- WEPA Hygieneprodukte GmbH, Chairman of the supervisory board (since 2009)
- Deutsche Rockwool, Member of the Supervisory Board
- Ernst & Young Germany, Member of the Advisory Board
- Odewald & Compagnie, Member of the Advisory Board
- DBV-Winterthur Holding, Member of the Supervisory Board
- Cologne Bonn Airport, Chairman of the supervisory board (2017–2020)
- BlackRock Germany, Chairman of the supervisory board (2016–2020)
- Stadler Rail, Member of the Board of Directors (2006–2020)
- HSBC Trinkaus, chairman of the advisory board (2010–2019)
- Borussia Dortmund, Member of the supervisory board (2010–2014)
- Axa Konzern AG, Member of the supervisory board (2007–2014)
- IVG Immobilien, Member of the supervisory board (2006–2010)
- Deutsche Börse, Member of the supervisory board (2005–2015)
- Interseroh, Member of the supervisory board (2005–2009)
Between 2010 and 2011, Merz represented the shareholders of WestLB, a publicly owned institution that had previously been Germany's third-largest lender, in talks with bidders. In 2012, he joined Norbert Röttgen's campaign team for the North Rhine-Westphalia state election as advisor on economic policy. He served as a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012 and in 2017.
In November 2017, Merz was appointed by Minister-President Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia as his Commissioner for Brexit and Transatlantic Relations, an unpaid advisory position.
Return to politics
After Angela Merkel announced her intention to step down as leader of the CDU party, Merz announced he would run in the subsequent 2018 party leadership election. His candidacy was promoted by the former CDU chairman and "crown prince" of the Kohl era, Wolfgang Schäuble (former President of the Bundestag, ranked second in federal precedence). On 7 December 2018, in the second round of the leadership election, Merz was defeated by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
On 25 February 2020, he announced his candidacy in the first 2021 CDU leadership election. His closest competitors were Armin Laschet and Norbert Röttgen. After several postponements, the election of the new CDU party president took place at the party congress on 15–16 January 2021, which was the first time in the party's history that it was held fully online. In the first round, Merz received 385 votes, 5 more than Laschet. In the second round, Merz received 466 votes out of 1001 delegates, while Laschet received 521 votes, thus failing to win the party president's post for the second time.
The same day, after losing the leadership election, Merz proposed to "join the current government and take over the Ministry for Economy". The ministry was already headed by his party colleague Peter Altmaier at the time and the proposal was rebuffed. Laschet was quick to placate Merz by recruiting him to his campaign team. Laschet justified this by saying that Merz was "without doubt a team player" and that his economic and financial expertise could provide crucial help in overcoming the huge challenge of the pandemic in a sustainable way.
Ahead of the 2021 German federal election, Patrick Sensburg, Merz's successor in his seat in the Bundestag, failed to secure his party's support for a new candidacy. Merz instead replaced him, returning to the Bundestag after a 12-year absence.
CDU chairman
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On 15 November 2021, Merz announced his candidacy in the second 2021 CDU leadership election. His opponents were Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun.
During their short campaign, Merz's rivals positioned themselves as Merkel's heirs. Against them, Merz promised a decisive break with the centrist line Merkel had followed for 16 years.
In total, some 400 000 CDU members were able to vote online or by letter. By 17 December 2021, Merz had already won an absolute majority of 62.1 percent of the membership in the first round of voting, so a second round of voting was not necessary. This meant that at his third attempt, he managed to win the party presidency. Asked for his reaction to the results of the vote, Merz said: "Quietly I just said to myself, 'WOW'; but only quietly, the winning marching songs are far from me."
Merz was formally elected Chairman of the CDU by its 1001 congress delegates at the virtual federal party congress on 22 January 2022. In the end, 915 out of 983 delegates voted for him, winning 94.6% of the valid votes to become the leader of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The vote was formally a so-called "digital pre-vote", the result of which has been confirmed in writing by the delegates.
After Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Armin Laschet, Merz became the third leader of the Christian Democratic Union within three years. He officially took office as party leader on 31 January 2022.
In September 2024 Merz became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2025 federal election, after Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) decided not to run and after both declared their support for Merz.
Political positions and controversies
Merz has focused on economic, foreign, security, and family policies. He has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal and is seen as a representative of the traditional establishment conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU.
As a young politician in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a staunch supporter of anti-communism, the dominant state doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. His book Mehr Kapitalismus wagen (transl: Venturing More Capitalism) advocates economic liberalism.
Human rights
In November 2018, Merz said that the introduction of same-sex marriage in Germany was the right thing to do. Also in 2018, Merz rejected the Ludwig Erhard Prize, citing objections to publications by the chairman of the Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Roland Tichy, considered by some to be on the extreme right.
Asylum and migration
Merz deems Angela Merkels policy of open borders during the refugee crisis in 2015 to be fatal. In 2024 Merz called for asylum seekers to be comprehensively rejected directly at the border. He believes this would send a signal that would lead to less irregular migration. In a debate about the capacity to accept refugees in Germany, Merz referred to the statement by Saxony's Minister-President Michael Kretschmer, who had spoken out in favor of accepting a maximum of 60,000 to 100,000 refugees per year. Merz explained that Kretschmer's statement roughly describes "what we can still achieve today with our integration power."
Social policy
Merz opposed the Bürgergeld (unemployment payment) and, like the CDU, wants to see it abolished and replaced by another system called "New Basic Security". In March 2024 the trade union ver.di described CDU plans for basic security as "inhumane and unconstitutional". Merz wants to completely cancel unemployment payments to those who could work but do not. According to Merz there are 1.7 million recipients who meet that definition.
Foreign policy
General stance
Merz has been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism and is a staunch supporter of the European Union and NATO. In 2018, he described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced transatlanticist" and said that "I stand for a cosmopolitan Germany whose roots lie in Christian ethics and the European Enlightenment and whose most important political allies are the democracies of the West. I gladly use this expression again: The democracies of the West." He advocates a closer union and especially closer relations between Germany and France. In 2018, he co-authored an article in defence of the European project, which among other things called for "an army for Europe."
In 2023, Merz called for Germany to involve key allies, especially France, in negotiations with China as part of a rethink of ties with the country that reflected a global "paradigm shift" in security and foreign policy.
Merz has criticized Donald Trump more harshly than Angela Merkel did and has especially criticized Trump's trade war against Europe. In fall of 2024 he said with regards to relations to the US and Russia, he would try to make himself "a little more independent from America," as America would be “in election mode” and "not the regulatory power that we were actually used to." When polls during the 2024 German government crisis predicted that Merz would be the most likely to become the next chancellor, he said that Germany "must go from being a sleeping middle power to becoming a leading middle power again“. Germany "never really articulated and enforced" its "interests well enough The aim is not to benefit only one side, but to make arrangements that are good for both sides. Trump would call it a deal.“
Russia and its invasion of Ukraine
Following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Merz adopted strong pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian positions, urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to supply Ukraine with weapons and personally travelling to Kyiv in May to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
While Merz, as opposition leader, had demanded that the German government of Scholz deliver German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, he himself said that he would not necessarily deliver Taurus cruise missiles if he were chancellor. As chancellor, he would deliver them if Russia or Vladimir Putin did not comply with Germany's and other European countries request to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and on the condition that France and Great Britain, for their part, lift the range limitation on the weapons they delivered to Ukraine. Merz said he would as chancellor try to bring about a European decision on the matter of the question whether to allow Ukraine to strike against targets deep within Russian territory with western weapons. He said he would also signal Putin his willingness to talk beforehand.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
In 2023, he said, in response to the United States' admonition to Israel to abide by international law, the US had a different relationship to Israel than Germany. Despite alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, Germany had a historic obligation to help the country "without ifs and buts". In October 2024, Merz successfully urged the German government to resume weapons deliveries to Israel, including spare parts for tanks.
Merz has expressed the opinion that the "two-state solution remains the right long-term goal for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians' recognition of Israel's right to exist is a basic prerequisite on the way there.“
Environmental policy
In April 2023, Merz declared that everyone in the CDU takes the issue of climate change very seriously. However, the issue of climate change is overrated in the political debate, and the population does not see the issue as important as politicians do. Nor is it explicitly the case that time is running out for successful climate change measures. If the right course is set in the next 10 years, the country will be on the right track.
In 2023, Merz opposed the proposed EU ban on internal combustion and hybrid vehicles by 2035, stating that the fight for carbon neutrality must be achieved with technology and open mindness, not bans.
Assessment of the right AfD and differentiation
In July 2018, Merz spoke in favor of a "more calm approach" to the Alternative for Germany (AfD): "I would have long since elected an AfD vice president in the Bundestag (federal parliament). This party was elected with 12.6 percent. It has neither been banned nor classified as unconstitutional. It has millions of voters behind it who should not be made to play the victim." However, he believes it is right that the CDU should not cooperate with the AfD. In November 2018, he reiterated that the CDU must clearly distance itself from the AfD, as the latter is (allegedly) openly National Socialist and has anti-Semitic undertones. In December 2021, shortly before taking over the party chairmanship, he said: "The state associations, especially in the east, are getting a crystal clear message from us: If anyone raises a hand to work with the AfD, then a party exclusion procedure will take place the next day."
However, Merz did not take action against the steadily increasing local cooperation between CDU politicians and AfD politicians from 2022 onwards due to the AfD's increasing electoral successes. In June 2023 he declared that such cooperation would only be prohibited in "legislative bodies", by which he meant the EU, federal and state levels. A month later, he was confronted with his "announcement" from December 2021 and its lack of implementation. He repeated his differentiation regarding to political levels and said that in the local parliaments "of course we must look for ways to jointly shape the city, the state and the district". Merz was criticized by large parts of his own party, who feared a crumbling of the firewall against the far right. Minister-President of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer (CDU), however, declared that a refusal of cross-party cooperation in substantive decisions at the local level was not sustainable in a democracy.
Secondary activities as a member of federal parliament
Friedrich Merz was known for his many secondary jobs in several legislative periods. As a member of the Bundestag (federal parliament of Germany), Merz had a total of 18 secondary jobs in the 14th legislative period (2002–2005) and at least eleven secondary jobs in the 15th legislative period (2005–2009). In 2006 alone, Merz was represented on the boards of eight companies. In 2007, Manager Magazine wrote about Merz's secondary jobs: "Merz probably earns a nice six-figure sum annually for his work in the law firm. For the year 2006, a conservative estimate shows that Merz's additional income, apart from his lawyer's salary, amounts to a quarter of a million euros." His many secondary activities raised the question of whether Merz takes his mandate as a member of the Bundestag seriously and thoroughly. In 2007, Merz wrote a letter to his voters because of the criticism of his secondary activities and tried to defend himself against the criticism.
In 2021, before the federal election and 11 years after he left the Bundestag in 2009, Merz announced that he would no longer pursue any "professional activities outside of politics" if he were to be re-elected to the Bundestag.
Lawsuit against transparency law or against disclosure of additional income
In 2006, there were discussions about conflicts of interest of members of the Bundestag who carried out other activities in addition to their parliamentary mandate. As a result, an agreement was reached that members of parliament should disclose their income from secondary activities in order to give the public an opportunity to assess whether their representatives may be harmfully dependent and influenced by financial contributions from third parties. Merz, who at that time had 18 secondary activities in addition to his parliamentary work according to one source, 11 according to another source and 14 according to the management of the Bundestag, filed a lawsuit with the Federal Constitutional Court together with eight other members of the German Bundestag against the disclosure of their secondary income. At the hearing in October 2006, Merz pointed out that according to Article 38 of the Basic Law of Germany (constitution), members of parliament are "not bound by instructions and are subject only to their conscience". If the President of the Bundestag could now impose sanctions on them if they violated the obligation to disclose their secondary income, this would be a violation of the constitution. He said that the regulation would drive many MPs into career politics, which is far removed from real life, even though secondary activities are not prohibited, but only the number and amount of their fees should be disclosed. In July 2007, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected the lawsuit by a vote of four to four, on the grounds that the political mandate must be "at the center of the activity" and criticized the risk of bias due to payments from companies.
Millionaire and middle class debate
In November 2018, when asked in an interview with the tabloid media Bild, Merz said that he was a millionaire (without distinguishing between income and wealth millionaires) and thus would belong in his understanding to the upper middle class. He later specified that he earned (at that time) "around one million euros gross" per year. These statements met with a broad public response and sparked criticism in Germany. Journalists, economists and financial advisors in Germany placed Merz in the upper class. According to the German Federal Bank, at the time in question, one was among the top 5 percent of the German population with a (total) net worth of at least 722,000 euros. Friedrich Merz's private assets include real estate and two aircraft.
Gay people
In September 2020, Merz was asked if he would have reservations about a gay chancellor, and said "concerning the question of sexual orientation, as long as it is within the scope of the law and does not concern children — at this point I reach my absolute limits — it is not an issue for public discussion." His response was criticized by Kevin Kühnert as the response of "a person acts who can't conceal that he is unable to get on board with the normalization of homosexuality."
Other activities (selection)
- Deutsche Nationalstiftung, Member of the Senate
- Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the Jury
- Bayer Foundation for German and International Labor and Business Law, Member of the Board of Trustees (1998–2002)
- KfW, Member of the supervisory board (2003–2004)
- Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Member (1998–2005)
Personal life
Friedrich Merz is married to the judge Charlotte Merz. He has three children and resides in Arnsberg in the Sauerland region. In 2005, the couple established the Friedrich und Charlotte Merz Stiftung, a foundation supporting projects in the education sector. He is a Roman Catholic.
Book
- Friedrich Merz (2008). Mehr Kapitalismus wagen: Wege zu einer gerechten Gesellschaft (in German). Munich: Piper Verlag. ISBN 978-3-492-05157-6. LCCN 2010514604. OCLC 634130092. OL 24354103M. Wikidata Q130425553.
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External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble | Leader of the Opposition 2000–2002 |
Succeeded byAngela Merkel |
| Preceded byRalph Brinkhaus | Leader of the Opposition 2022–present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble | Leader of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag 2000–2002 |
Succeeded byAngela Merkel |
| Preceded byArmin Laschet | Leader of the Christian Democratic Union 2022–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded byRalph Brinkhaus | Leader of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag 2022–present | |
GRUENE
FDP
CDU and CSU
SPD
LINKE
- 1955 births
- Living people
- People from Brilon
- German Roman Catholics
- University of Bonn alumni
- Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
- Leaders of political parties in Germany
- European amateur radio operators
- Conservatism in Germany
- German anti-communists
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- German people of French descent
- BlackRock people
- German hunters
- Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025
- Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009
- Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005
- Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002
- Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998
- Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
- People associated with Mayer Brown