 "Who is Friedrich Merz, Germany's opposition leader who is gunning for Olaf Scholz's job?")
Germany’s coalition government has crumbled.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Lindner’s Free Democratic Party has now withdrawn from the “traffic light” coalition government fronted by Scholz and his as well as the Green Party led by Robert Habeck.
All of which has thrown into focus German opposition leader Friedrich Merz.
Scholz has said he will reach out to Merz immediately.
“I will now very quickly seek dialogue with the leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz,” the Social Democratic leader was quoted as saying by DW.
Scholz said he wants to offer Merz the opportunity to work together constructively on two or even more issues “that are crucial for our country: On the rapid strengthening of our economy and our defence.”
“And we now need clarity on how we can solidly finance our security and defense in the coming years without jeopardising cohesion in the country,” Olaf said.
Merz currently heads the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – to which ex-chancellor Angela Merkel belonged – and could very well be Germany’s next chancellor.
But who is the 68-year-old Merz? What do we know about him?
Let’s take a closer look:
Early years
Merz was born on November 11, 1955 in west Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia.
As per The Economist, his family were conservative Catholic lawyers.
Trained as a lawyer, Merz was elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and then to the Bundestag – Germany’s Lower House.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe grew close to the CDU’s powerful late finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
By 2000, he was chairman of the chairmanship of the CDU/Christian Social Union parliamentary group.
However, Merz lost out in a power struggle against Merkel, who took over the CDU leadership in 2002 as the party struggled to rebuild after Helmut Kohl’s chancellorship.
Merkel went on to become Germany’s second-longest serving post-war chancellor while Merz – humiliated, and his influence greatly diminished – opted for a hiatus from politics.
Leaving politics
He left parliament in 2009 and for over a decade pursued a successful career in the private sector.
He worked as a corporate lawyer for a major Duesseldorf firm, built up a personal fortune and held senior positions on the boards of US investment firm BlackRock and multiple other companies.
As per The Economist, Merz would often slam his rival Merkel in public appearances.
Merz once described her leadership as “godawful,” as per DW.
He has criticised her legacy, from her open-door policy to migrants to her accommodating stance towards Russia.
Merz is a millionaire former corporate lawyer who promises a return to his CDU party’s conservative roots as an alternative to the far right.
He may soon get his chance to run for the top job, his long-held ambition, as early elections are expected following the collapse of the three-party ruling alliance of centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz .
After years of waiting in the wings, Merz, a 68-year-old Roman Catholic, is ahead in the polls and widely seen as likely to lead his Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian allies to victory.
Merz is a pro-business economic liberal, who published a book in 2008 titled “Dare More Capitalism”, a passionate advocate of transatlantic ties and the European Union, and a defender of traditional social values.
But his business world success and wealth have left him open to charges of being out of touch with most Germans, claims he has rejected by insisting he belongs to the “upper middle class”.
The return
As per The Economist, Merz shocked many by returning to the CDU in 2018.
His powerful oratory won over many within the party after Merkel resigned as CDU chief.
However, he failed to overcome the final hurdle and the party instead went with Merkel’s designated heir Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
However, after Kramp-Karrenbauer stepped down in 2020, Merz tried again.
This time, he was defeated by Armin Laschet, the centrist premier of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
Then, in 2021, Merz finally saw his chance.
Laschet had led the CDU/CSU to a landslide loss in the 2021 election.
Losing the federal election was painful," Merz said at the CDU party convention this year, as per DW. “But going into the opposition also bought us the time we needed to regroup as a party.”
Merz again stood for leadership and won in January 2022.
It was his third attempt.
He is now the party’s confirmed candidate for chancellor.
As per DW, Merz is the oldest lead candidate for chancellor Germany has seen in five decades.
Merz, though, is not short of confidence.
“We’re going into the 2025 federal election year together with the firm intention of taking back leadership responsibility for our country,” Merz said as per Politico.
According to the outlet, the CDU, which is polling at 32 per cent, remains the favourite to take power – and with it Merz as chancellor.
Merz in September was quoted as saying by DW that Germany’s economic situation was “precarious.”
He said it is time for “politics that would see Germany get ahead once again.”
But Merz, who is yet to hold a government office, remains a divisive figure within the party.
As per The Economist, only half of CDU’s voters approve of what Merz is doing.
He is also unpopular with young people and women.
Firmly on the right of the CDU, Merz has backed a tougher immigration policy and pledged to reverse marijuana legalisation and Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power, as he seeks to win back voters who have drifted to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
He has sparked anger by labelling the sons of Muslim immigrants “little pashas” and accusing Ukrainian war refugees of “social welfare tourism”, before later apologising.
As per The Economist, he also accused refugees of taking all the dentists’ appointments.
Some within the party think his rhetoric is far too close to the AfD.
In August, DW quoted Merz as saying at the CDU political convention, “Today, we have to agree with those who say that the problem of right-wing extremism in Germany has been underestimated for years, and we should be very careful not to repeat the same mistake when it comes to the instigators of political Islam, who openly threaten us and who are not prepared to accept the rules of our country and peaceful coexistence in Germany.”
Merz further told the DW, “Those who are really integrated and willing to meet all the requirements we are having here in this country, legally, culturally, that these people are really welcome [but] those who are, for example, asking for Sharia state or for the caliphate state do not have a place in Germany.”
In recent months he has led the charge in raining down withering criticism on what he has labelled the government’s failed policies on migration and the stuttering economy.
Merz’ foreign policy outlook places him within the pro-NATO camp. He previously slammed Scholz for refusing to give Ukraine Taurus cruise missiles.
As per The Guardian, he has been an unstinting supporter of Ukraine.
Merz, who at 6 foot 6 inches, stands out in a crowd.
He is a licensed pilot who sometimes flies his own private jet.
He is rhetorically skilled and visibly enjoys a good political scrap.
He speaks fluent English and has spent much time in the United States, as per DW.
The magazine Der Spiegel said he also tends to take conflicts personally and is given to fits of anger, writing that “if Merz were a bullfighter, he would probably hold the red cloth in front of his stomach.”
But, according to news weekly Die Zeit, the old-school conservative is “currently the CDU’s answer” to the recent electoral successes of the AfD, which is polling at close to 20 percent.
It said there is “nothing colourful” about Merz, whose “bourgeois, traditional and well-to-do family background… still corresponds today, in a large part of the country, to an idealised social vision.”
Merz, for his part, has vowed not to work with the AfD.
“In parts of our country, the CDU/CSU is the last remaining major popular party of the democratic center,” Merz was quoted as saying by Politico. “This is particularly true for eastern Germany, but it also applies to the whole of Germany. We have a great responsibility here in the political center of our country.”
Merz has called for an immediate no-confidence vote in parliament.
“Time is of the essence,” Merz said as per Al Jazeera. “We simply cannot afford to have a government without a majority in Germany for several months now, followed by an election campaign for several more months and then possibly several weeks of coalition negotiations.”
The Guardian quoted him as saying that there is “absolutely no reason to wait to put off the confidence vote to January.”
“The end last night is the end of the traffic light,” Merz said. “And hence the end of this mandate.”
“I am of course ready to have talks … and assume responsibility,” he added.
With inputs from agencies
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