The ambitions of Friedrich Merz to attain Germany’s top political job have long been thwarted by events, rivals—or himself. Yet the chancellery finally looks within the grasp of the 68-year-old leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). On September 17th Mr Merz secured the backing of Markus Söder, the leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU). The sister conservative parties agree on a joint chancellor candidate at federal elections. Mr Söder’s surrender one whole year before Germans go to the polls is testament to Mr Merz’s political skills. Born into a family of conservative Catholic lawyers in Germany’s west, Mr Merz followed a legal path before moving to the
European Parliament in 1989. Five years later he was elected to the Bundestag, where he worked his way up to the chairmanship of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2000. But he had made the first of several enemies along the way. In 2002 Angela Merkel, the CDU’s new leader, ousted him in an intra-party power struggle. A few years later a chastened Mr Merz quit politics for a lucrative career in corporate law. His public appearances were limited, and usually involved taking potshots at Mrs Merkel. So it was a shock in October 2018 when he declared his intention to take over the CDU
’s leadership. A forceful rhetorician on good days, he wowed those among the party faithful who thought Mrs Merkel had eroded the party’s conservative soul. “Friedrich the Great”, trumpeted a conservative daily. But still it took Mr Merz three attempts before he eventually landed the CDU’s top job in January 2022. Since then he has trodden a fine line: trying to convince CDU moderates that their views retain a place in the party while demonstrating to German voters that he is steering the party back to its conservative roots. It hasn’t always worked. Some party allies worry his tirades against immigration veer too close to territory staked out by the hard-right Alternative for Germany. He says his focus in next year’s campaign will not be immigration, but Germany’s faltering economy. Here his instincts are those of a pro-business small-stater: he once said tax returns should be small enough to fit on a beer mat.
So unpopular is the left-leaning coalition led by Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, that Mr Merz is a clear front-runner to take over. But he has his work cut out. Mr Scholz’s advisers think Mr Merz can effectively be portrayed as an out-of-touch hothead who will take a hatchet to Germans’ rights and pensions. (Expect references to his wealth and the private jet he enjoys flying.) And although the CDU/CSU is polling better than the three parties in Mr Scholz’s government combined, for now Germans do not find the prospect of Mr Merz in the chancellery any more enticing than the incumbent.
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