Friedrich Merz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Friedrich Merz MdB
Merz in 2024
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 January 2022
Deputy	Silvia Breher Andreas Jung Michael Kretschmer Karl-Josef Laumann Karin Prien
Preceded by	Armin Laschet
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 February 2022
Chancellor	Olaf Scholz
Preceded by	Ralph Brinkhaus
In office 29 February 2000 – 22 September 2002
Chancellor	Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded by	Angela Merkel
Leader of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 February 2022
First Deputy	Alexander Dobrindt
Chief Whip	Thorsten Frei
Preceded by	Ralph Brinkhaus
In office 29 February 2000 – 22 September 2002
First Deputy	Michael Glos
Chief Whip	Hans-Peter Repnik
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded by	Angela Merkel
Member of the Bundestag for Hochsauerlandkreis
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2021
Preceded by	Patrick Sensburg
In office 10 November 1994 – 27 October 2009
Preceded by	Ferdinand Tillmann
Succeeded by	Patrick Sensburg
Member of the European Parliament for North Rhine-Westphalia
In office 22 July 1989 – 19 July 1994
Personal details
Born	Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (1955-11-11) 11 November 1955 (age 69) Brilon, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Political party	Christian Democratic Union (since 1972)
Spouse	Charlotte Gass ​ (m. 1981)​
Children	3
Residence	Arnsberg
Education	University of Bonn University of Marburg
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	West Germany
Branch/service	German Army (Heer) / Self-propelled artillery
Years of service	1975–1976

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz ( 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 2025 German federal election, Merz is projected to become the next Chancellor of Germany.

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 one of the most pro-American politicians in Germany and has been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism. He 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". He is critical of the Trump administration and has likened the United States under Trump to Russia under Vladimir Putin, and said Europe must urgently strengthen its defences and potentially find a replacement for NATO.

Background and early life

Sauvigny House in Brilon, Merz's childhood home that belonged to his mother's Sauvigny family, a locally prominent patrician family.

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 ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Brilon mayor Josef Paul Sauvigny [de].

Merz is Catholic. He was raised in his mother's family home Sauvigny House in Brilon. Built in 1752, Jérôme Bonaparte spent a night there in 1813. The house was announced for sale for €2 million 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 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.

Early political career

'For German interests in Europe' – Merz as a young Christian Democrat in 1989

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 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 chancellor 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.

Private sector career (2009–2018)

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:

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.

Chairman of the CDU (2022–present)

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 per cent 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.

CDU chancellor candidate (2025)

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.

Exit polls released following the 2025 federal election showed CDU would win the most seats in the German parliament, albeit with its second worst result ever, thus ensuring Merz with the role of Chancellor of Germany.

Presumptive Chancellor of Germany

Politico noted that "Merz and other European mainstream leaders increasingly see the U.S. no longer a beacon — that “shining city upon a hill,” as Reagan liked to call it — but rather as another force joining Russia and China to steadily chip away at their ever-more brittle democracies."

Political positions

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.

Asylum, migration and integration

Merz says he sees limiting irregular migration as the most important task after the federal election in February 2025. Merz deems Angela Merkel's 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.

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. 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 with Dan Coats and Robert M. Kimmitt at the German-American Conference in Berlin in May 2017

Merz is a staunch supporter of the European Union and NATO.

Long considered one of the most pro-American politicians in Germany, he has been the chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism. He counts former US President Ronald Reagan as one of his role models, and has travelled to the US over 100 times. However, he is critical of the Trump administration and has likened the Trump-led United States to Germany's primary adversary, Putin’s Russia.

Merz with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine on 9 December 2024

Energy policy

Merz, Ursula von der Leyen and Manfred Weber at the European People's Party Congress in Bucharest in 2024

Merz called the phase-out of nuclear energy in Germany a "grave strategic mistake".

Environmental policy

In April 2023, Merz declared that everyone in the CDU takes the issue of climate change very seriously. However, he went on to claim that the issue of climate change is overrated in the political debate, and that the German population does not see the issue as important as politicians do. Merz went on to deny that time is running out for successful climate change measures, and that the country will be on the right track if it makes the right decisions over the next decade.

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-mindedness, not bans."

He blamed the crisis at Volkswagen on the Scholz government's focus on electromobility.

Merz supports a business-friendly adaptation of the European Green Deal.

Other activities

• 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 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.

See also

In Spanish: Friedrich Merz para niños