It was late but the Friedrich Mertz, which tomorrow (06.05.2025) will be elected chancellor of Germany, an event that for him is the climax – and ultimately the justification – of a political career full of ambitions, dreams, but also failures and frustrations.
In his 69 years, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Friedrich Mertz will become the second older politician to be elected Chancellor of Germany (after Conrad Adenauer – 73 years in 1949) and the lowest election (25.5%).
His “big return” can be unquestionable, but so is the mountain that is called upon to climb over the next four years.
The forgotten candidate
It is June 2017. Eight men in dark costumes dine at the Berlin emblem of Berlin, a large German publishing house.
The moaning for Angela Merkelwhich will soon win the election, monopolizes the debate.
It is well known that Chancellor has been rather reluctant nomination for the her fourth term. However, good or bad, in previous years he had arranged to neutralize the internal opposition.
At the table there are names of possible successors. No one looks important enough to replace her. Among them is that of Friedrich Mertz, who abandoned politics in 2009having lost in the intra -party battle by Mrs. Merkel.
The youngest of the ungodly They find it difficult to remember himdespite the fact that the former CDU executive remains on the outskirts of the political world, now representing a lawyer, lobbyist, member of the Supervisory Boards of Financial Colossates such as HSBC, Commerzbank, BASF, WEPA or Black Rock.
Until 2018 and his first attempt to return to the central political scene, Mr Mertz, according to Vermögenmagazine, is estimated to secure a 12m -euro personal property. He, however, has repeatedly placed himself in the middle class, not in the “superior”. The latter, he says, belongs to those who inherited property and enjoying their lives with it. “The point is to emphasize the personal achievements that brought this wealth,” he said of himself, reminding him that “he was not born rich”.
In 2018, with Angela Merkel leaving the CDU leadership staying in the Chancellor, saw his opportunity for a return, However, he failed to access the wall that the strong woman of the party had raised.
Her chosen, Anegret Crab-Carenbauer, won the battle, as followed by her other “courtyard”, Armin Lasset, in 2021.
Friedrich Mertz became the leader of the CDU neither short nor shortly 50 years after joining it in December 2021. A few months after the historic electoral crash of the faction (22.6%). THE Road to Chancellor seemed to be anything but easy but. The new leader was not popular; he wanted to change everything; and began with the removal of the CDU from the center.
Even until last February’s elections, there were a few voices called by someone else to receive the nominee of the Christian Union candidate (CDU/CSU): Either the charismatic populist Bavarian Prime Minister Marcus Zender, or the “new”
Friedrich Mertz, however, had no intention of reaching the fountain without drinking water, when the Government of Al all of the Solds went from bad to worse.
Return to the roots
With Friedrich Mertz, the Christian Democratic Party It reappeals its conservative, virtuous profile. Middle -aged, successful professionally, liberal, family man, traditional, faithful Catholic, old authorities, with a father and wife, with three children, looks like a CDU leaflets.
He doesn’t even have to talk about how his party imagines: he already lives.
Perhaps perhaps a black spot, though indicative of his persuasion and perseverance, his youth: As a student he was so bad at times that he was forced to change school, to repeat a class.
Today, although a capable orator, it rarely manages to gain sympathies to the general public. Even after his victory, he remains low in the popularity of politicians, possibly confirming those who have estimated that he was voted on in the absence of a more convincing alternative.
Indicatively, ZDF’s political barometer was sixth among the first ten, with negative opinions prevailing, and already before taking over, only 48% are optimistic about the new government.
His associates describe him as “overly formal”, referring to his consequence – “meetings always begin the predetermined time and those who come delaying feel his dissatisfaction” – on the other hand that few are allowed to address the party. However, it is characterized as committed to duty, studying, reiterates that “as long as there are obligations, fun can wait”.
Many are wondering about his leadership style in Chancellor: He is the first government leader who has not previously served as Minister or Prime Minister of State and at the same time renowned for his commitment to discipline. If he chooses to run his cabinet in terms of private business, he can quickly hit the … quirks of a government.
This election campaign eventually focused on the confrontation mainly on the immigration, secondarily to the economy.
So in the shadow some of Mr Mertz’s older positions, such as e.g. Against abortions and pre -implantation control, against criminalization of rape in marriage…
The winner of the election has also risked several times kicking Kardara with milk – power -, because of the combination of political inexperience and sharp language.
Although it does not seem to have any intention of justifying his most conservative views compared to Mrs Merkel, he was repeatedly forced to withdraw from public statements that did not exactly help his case.
He apologized for his phrase about “welfare tourism” refugees.
It also got a back statement of ‘little pashas’ that ‘steal’ appointments to dentists by German taxpayers who pay for their insurance.
Friedrich Mertz does not hide that he is in different views of the immigration by Olf Saltz and Angela Merkel.
He has spoken of “turbocharged expansions”, which ultimately seems to be left aside, but it is certain that the restriction of the number of asylum seekers and, conversely, the increase in the number of repatriation will be one of its most important priorities, under the threat of Alternatively, Her percentages in polls.
Much will be judged for the next Chancellor by If it will be able to weaken the far -right, But also by his manipulations, if a realistic issue of banning the AfD is raised after its official classification as “as verified far -right organization” by the Federal Protection Service of the Constitution.
‘It’s the economy, Fritz’
In any case, the new government will be judged by its performance in the economy. The EU’s largest economy is in the third year of recession, the international situation is no longer favorable and is now directly challenged by the – as a successful successful – German economic model.
Friedrich Mertz was elected Mostly for his experience in the economy. In public surveys, this was the area in which voters showed that he was more entrusted to him by Al all Saltz.
The first samples, however, are anything more controversial. Before taking over, Mr Mertz defamed his central pre -election promise of maintaining the “debt brake”, agreed to borrowing almost a trillion euro in the coming years.
He thus justified the outgoing Chancellor, who said and re -said in his pre -election appearances that “without removing the brake debt, they do not become what the CDU promises”.
The young Chancellor is now called upon to prove, first of all to his unhappy voters, that he has properly decided to abandon his emblematic announcement.
In social policy issues, the coexistence with the Social Democrats (SPD) is not announced.
“Anyone who works and not the opposite should be rewarded,” he often points out, referring to welfare benefits. He also repeatsly repeat that the Germans should be ready to work for more and more years.
Consequently Atlantic, Friedrich Mertz is already finding them dark with Washington, from which only problems can expect, it seems. Covering behind formalities, he avoided being placed on the imposition of customs duties on the US imported products by the European Union.
He did not hear when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Germany as a “disguised tyranny”.
But from tomorrow he will no longer be able to avoid such challenges. The Germans are waiting for their country to stand strong and dominant, as they believe it is in the third economic power worldwide.
Der Spiegel Magazine recently noted that Friedrich Mertz It is conservative, but not dogmatic.
In other words, he may not like the center, but he is well aware that without this, elections are not won, as he also knows that the profile -friendly profile friendly is not easily digested from the CDU popular base, even if he is forgiven for eg. The two (small) private planes with which it has been moving so far.
The new Chancellor promises “amazing” collaboration with the SPD, Germany’s “total reinstatement” to the leading role in Europe and the world, the restoration of the Franco -German axis. He appears as a fanatical advocate of his country’s defensive support against the Russian threat.
Unlike all of Olf Salts, who in 2021 believed he was taking over the country on a recovery after the pandemic and landed abnormally due to the war in Ukraine and his consequences, Friedrich Mertz begins his term without illusions, in one of the historical lower points for Germany.
For this job, Angela Merkel recently commented, it needs a “great zeal for power”.
At least this young Chancellor seems to have it in abundance.