Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German politician who has served as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025.
Merz was born in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 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. As a young politician in the 1970s and 1980s, Merz was a staunch supporter of anti-communism, the dominant political doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. He 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. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU. He was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2000, 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, 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 at Mayer Brown, where he 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. In September 2024, he became the Union's candidate for Chancellor of Germany ahead of the following year's federal election. The CDU/CSU won a plurality of the seats and subsequently reached an agreement to form a coalition with the SPD. Merz was elected chancellor on 6 May 2025, taking two rounds to clear, which was a first in German history.
As chancellor, he has taken steps to ensure fiscal responsibility and border security. An early issue that arose at the start of his chancellorship has been the designation of the AfD as extremist. In foreign policy, he is a staunch supporter of the European Union, NATO, and the liberal international order, having described himself as "truly European, a convinced Transatlanticist, and a German open to the world". Merz advocates a closer union and "an army for Europe". Prior to the second presidency of Donald Trump, he was frequently described as being "exceptionally pro-American", and was once the chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American friendship and Atlanticism.
Early life and education
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz was born on 11 November 1955 to Joachim Merz and Paula Sauvigny in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 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, who joined the Nazi Party in 1937. Merz is Catholic. Two of his three siblings died relatively early: his younger sister died at the age of 21 in a traffic accident and his brother died of multiple sclerosis before the age of 50.
From 1966 to 1971, Merz studied at the Gymnasium Petrinum Brilon, which he left for disciplinary reasons, moving to the Friedrich-Spee Gymnasium in Rüthen where he finished his Abitur in 1975. From July 1975 to September 1976 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, a Catholic student fraternity founded in 1844 that is part of the Cartellverband. After finishing law school in 1985, he became a District Court judge in Saarbrücken. In 1986, he left his position 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.
Early political career
In 1972, at the age of seventeen, he became a member of the CDU's youth wing, the Young Union. In 1980 he became President of the Brilon branch of the Young Union.
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 2004, Merz gave a speech to local constituents criticising the "red" (Social Democratic) mayor of his hometown, Brilon, and called for the "red town hall" to be stormed. He noted that his grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, had been mayor of Brilon. This statement drew criticism, for Sauvigny had been a mayor under Nazi rule. While it is not known whether he was a formal member of the Nazi Party at the time (though he joined later), Sauvigny remained mayor after the Nazis seized power and repressed their political opponents. During his tenure, he praised the Nazi "national revolution" and renamed streets in his town after Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring.
In 2005 he was described by German media as a new member of the Andean Pact, an informal network of CDU men formed in 1979 by then members of the 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. From 2004 he was a Senior Counsel at Mayer Brown's Düsseldorf office, where he worked on the corporate finance team; before 2004 he was a senior counsel with Cornelius Bartenbach Haesemann.
Between 2010 and 2011, Merz was commissioned by the state's Financial Market Stabilization Fund (Soffin) to lead the sale of WestLB, a bank majority-controlled by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to a private investor. He was criticized in the media for his multi-million-euro salary, as he received a fee of €5,000 per day for unsuccessful work, including Saturdays and Sundays, totaling €1,980,000 from taxpayers.
His work as a lawyer and board member has made him a multimillionaire. He has also taken on numerous positions on corporate boards, including as successor to deceased politicians:
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 failed to win the party president's post for the second time, receiving 466 votes out of 1001 delegates, while Laschet received 521 votes.
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 was 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 in the 2025 federal election, after Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) decided not to run and after both declared their support for Merz. Due to the collapse of the incumbent governing coalition in November 2024, the election took place seven months ahead of schedule.
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 the role of Chancellor of Germany.
In the aftermath of the election, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) initiated coalition talks to form the next government. In the federal election the CDU, led by Merz, emerged as the strongest party but fell short of an absolute majority, necessitating coalition negotiations. The SPD, under the leadership of Lars Klingbeil, entered discussions to explore potential collaboration. The expected CDU/CSU–SPD coalition would form what is historically referred to in German politics as a Große Koalition (Grand Coalition, although that term describes the coalition of the two biggest parties, which the SPD is not since the 2025 election).
On 5 March 2025, Merz proposed a significant increase in defence spending. He stated at the press conference: "Germany and Europe must quickly strengthen their defence capabilities. The CDU, CSU and SPD will table a motion to amend the Basic Law so that defence spending above 1% of GDP is exempt from the debt brake". This would allow Germany to increase its debt without limits in order to finance its military and provide military assistance to Ukraine. Economists have warned that Merz's plan could trigger inflation and increase Germany's government debt. Germany would pay approximately €71 billion in interest annually from 2035. During negotiations for the next German cabinet, Merz and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz reached an agreement to reform the debt brake by amending Paragraphs 109, 115 and 143h of the Basic Law to exempt defence spending exceeding 1% of GDP. Next to the defence spending Merz agreed to create a special fund of €500 billion for "investments in infrastructure and for additional investments to achieve climate neutrality by 2045". On 18 March 2025, German lawmakers approved the amendment to the Basic Law. The change will allow the Merz government to spend €500 billion on infrastructure and green energy within 10 years and to have defence spending above 1% of GDP to be exempted from the debt brake; this allows an unlimited debt-based financing of defence spending. Merz, who had promised to not touch the debt brake rule prior to the German federal election, justified the increase in defence spending by the threat from Russia, citing Putin's "war of aggression against Europe". He called the decision "the first major step towards a new European defence community." He also planned to increase military aid to Ukraine. The trillion-euro spending package was approved before the 21st Bundestag was constituted on 25 March 2025, where The Left and AfD would have the ability to block it. A two-thirds majority was needed to change the constitution. The plan was supported by the CDU, CSU, SPD, and the Greens. Merz's fiscal package was welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
On 9 April 2025, Merz, together with the CSU party leader Markus Söder and the SPD co-leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken, presented the coalition agreement for the planned black-red coalition. This agreement was signed on 5 May 2025, after internal party votes on a government coalition were approved in the three parties in the weeks before.
Chancellor (2025–present)
On 6 May, when the first round of voting took place, Merz was not confirmed as the next chancellor when he unexpectedly failed to achieve an absolute majority in parliament with only 310 votes in favour of his leadership out of a required 316 out of 630 votes. It was the first time in German history a chancellor candidate did not receive the necessary votes in the first attempt. A second round of voting took place on the same day, resulting in him being elected as chancellor with 325 votes. Merz and his cabinet were sworn in on the same day of the voting.
One of his first official acts was the restructuring of the ministries and the creation of a Ministry for Digital and State Modernization. On 7 May, he made his first foreign visit as Chancellor, meeting in France with President Emmanuel Macron and jointly announcing the creation of a Franco-German Defence and Security Council and afterwards meeting with Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, in Warsaw, emphasizing relations within the Weimar Triangle.
Friedrich Merz is one of Germany’s most unpopular chancellors. In April 2026, only 15% of Germans said they were satisfied with his government’s policies.
Since his return to politics in 2021, Merz has filed numerous criminal complaints for simple insults, such as "blockhead" or "Pinocchio."
Foreign policy
Merz's chancellery has been described as very active abroad, and he has engaged in an unusual number of high-profile foreign visits in his first few months, emphasising European and Western unity.
Israel
On 24 February 2025, following the federal election, Merz indicated his intention to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an official visit to Germany, describing the invitation as a challenge to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes.
Following his election as chancellor, Merz reaffirmed Germany's commitment to Israel's security, defining it as an unconditional element of German state rationale (Staatsräson). In international diplomacy, his administration consistently opposed multilateral efforts to isolate Israel. In October 2025, Merz publicly stated that Germany should withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if the European Broadcasting Union excluded Israel. Following geopolitical escalations in the Middle East in early 2026, his cabinet expanded defensive military exports to Israel and expedited bureaucratic approval processes for defense contracts.
Gulf states
In February 2026, Merz conducted a three-day diplomatic tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aimed at diversifying Germany's energy imports and expanding strategic alliances to reduce economic reliance on the United States and China. During the tour, Merz announced a significant shift in German foreign policy by adopting a less restrictive stance on arms exports to autocratically governed Gulf nations, stating that the federal government intended to increase defense cooperation with regional partners. Following talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Merz indicated a readiness to approve pending defense contracts, including transport aircraft, defending the decision as a measure to stabilize regional security through strengthened capabilities.
China
Under the Merz administration, Germany's foreign policy toward China focused on "de-risking without decoupling," aiming to maintain vital free-trade relations while addressing structural economic imbalances. During his first official state visit to Beijing in February 2026, Merz adopted a direct stance on trade by warning Chinese leadership that the expanding bilateral trade deficit, which was driven by state subsidies and industrial overcapacity, was unsustainable and incompatible with fair, rules-based multilateral trade standards. However, his approach faced domestic and international criticism from human rights organizations and policy analysts, who argued that his administration subordinated human rights concerns to commercial interests, particularly following major trade agreements secured during the summit. Critics further noted that Merz's emphasis on traditional free-trade diplomacy diverged from the European Union's broader implementation of protectionist tariffs against Chinese technology imports, creating a policy misalignment with European trade strategies.
Defense
In his first government speech Merz announced that his "government will provide the Bundeswehr with all the financial resources it needs to become the strongest conventional army in Europe".
Merz initiated a historic expansion of Germany's military capabilities, pledging to build "the strongest conventional army in Europe" to deter potential aggression and meet the demands of international allies. Asserting that European nations must end what he termed a defense "free-ride" on the United States, Merz aligned Germany with revised NATO objectives by committing to raise core defense spending to 3.5% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2029, a notable increase from the 2.4% baseline in 2025. Additionally, he proposed allocating an extra 1.5% of GDP toward defense-related infrastructure and national resilience, raising Germany's long-term cumulative defense spending target to 5% of GDP.
To secure the financial resources for this rearmament, Merz's administration oversaw a major legislative shift by modifying the execution of Germany's constitutional debt brake (Schuldenbremse). Under the new framework, necessary defense expenditures exceeding 1% of GDP were exempted from strict deficit limits, facilitating expansive borrowing specifically for military modernization. This enabled his cabinet to approve an €82.69 billion defense budget for the 2026 fiscal year, representing the highest nominal defense allocation in the history of the Federal Republic, designed to accelerate multi-billion euro procurement programs and expand domestic arms manufacturing.
Economy
Following his ascension to the chancellorship, Merz frequently warned against the threat of structural deindustrialization, arguing that Germany was at risk of losing its manufacturing core due to uncompetitive business conditions. In a January 2026 memorandum to his coalition partners, he characterized the state of German industry as "very critical," highlighting that high labor costs, tax burdens, and bureaucratic hurdles were causing massive challenges and job losses across both small firms and manufacturing giants. Merz linked these economic strains directly to rising unemployment, which threatened to breach the three million mark amid a multi-year stagnation of economic growth. He publicly asserted that maintaining national prosperity would require an increase in economic efficiency, criticizing societal dependencies on a four-day workweek and a focus on work-life balance.