Conservative Chistian Democratic Union (CDU) President Frederick Merz believes that he is set to become the next Chancellor of Germany after the general election on 23 February.
At the final party conference before the vote, he demonstrated faith in front of a politics storm when he triggers a hard immigration bill through Parliament with the help of the right choice for Germany (AFD) when he triggers color for Germany (AFD) Tried to do it.
The move triggered shock waves across the country, in which the protesters said cooperation as an impenetrable violation of the post -war of cooperation.
Merz Himlaf sees his move as a gambling, which aims to curb the success of anti -immigration AFD.
His center-in-right block (CDU/CSU) has long been comfortable in opinion surveys at about 30%, making Merz the main challenger for Olaf Sholaz, the Chancellor of the Center-Left Social Democrats (SPD).
An electoral victory will complete a remarkable comeback for Merz, which re -included Bundestag after a gap of 12 years from politics in 2021.
If selected, the 69 -year -old will be the oldest Chancellor since the Conrad Adanner, the first Chancellor of the New Federal Republic of Germany to take over in 1949 at the age of 73.
Both Sholaz and Merz are trained lawyers, but equality ends. The tall CDU politician is a grand person, whether he is entering a room or taking it on stage. In the person, he is coming down as acceptable and even humorous, when he takes down to talk to people, you do not always make the best effect, as hei often does.
Out of politics and in business
When Angela Merkel woke up to lead the CDU parliamentary group in 2002 and entered Chancellori in 2005, Merz with a very conservative mind withdrew and stayed away from politics for years.
Compared with Merkel, who was seen as a calm and calculated strategy, the merge is seen as a very different kind of politician, much will be very willing to take political risk.
In the early 2000s, Merz was often considered as a rival to Merkel. By the end of 2001, he put forward Himal as the Chancellor candidate for the federal election of 2002. But at that time, CDU chose Bavarian CSU politician Edmond Stoiber, who fled against Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Shrodeer – and lost. Merz slowly moved away from the political field, and returned to his work as a lawyer. In 2009, he no longer stood as a candidate for Bundestag.
Merz meets Sreyland – a region of low mountains in West Germany – and there is both a Catholic and a lawyer, like her father before her. To date, he does not stay away from the place where he was born. In 1989, at the age of 33, he became a member of the European Parliament for the CDU. Five years later, he switched to Bundestag, and quickly made a name for Himal as a good and sharp speaker. What he said in the parliamentary group increased weight.
The private sector increased after the merz exit from politics. From 2005 to 2021, he was part of an international law firm and took to top positions on supervisory and administrative boards. From 2016 to 2020, he was the chairman of the supervisory board of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager in Germany.
But when Merkel announced that she would quit politics in 2021, Merz returned and gradually progressed through the rank. The CDU, in his third attempt, chose the party leader in 2022. Hey a reputation as a liberal economic representative of the Orthodox CDU wing.
Controversial statement
Merz had already voted against liberalizing abortion laws and against preymplantation genetic diagnosis in Bundestag in the 1990s. He disrupted a lot against criminalization of marital rape in 1997.
Hey who is always in favor of continuous nuclear power, and pushed to a more liberal economic policy and bureaucracy decrease. About 25 years ago, he mourned the effects of the German Migration Policy, spoke of “problems with foreigners” and insisted that there is a “major guiding culture” in Germany.
He is now bringing some of these issues again – in a very different political and social status with Germany. On the political talk show Marcus Lamj in January 2023, he complained about a lacquer of integration in Germany, and argued that “there are people who have no business in real Germany, which we have tolerated here for a long time , What we do not send back, which we do not exist, and then we are surprised that the search is more. Which he prepares as “small animals”.
This attracts a lot of controversy at that time, although now you do not hear much contradiction for such statements from the top of the CDU. After the end of the Merkel years, many farmer Chancellor’s political colleagues were abandoned.
The CDU leader is mostly to face Headwind from the Bavarian Sister Party, Christian Social Union (CSU). With a strong media appearance, his leader Marcus Soder – Since he lost the race to become a Chancellor candidate in 2021 – despite the frequent expressions of loyalty, they are advancing Merz. Marz has lost some of his sovereignty since last summer, and found that Himalfef corrected some of his statements after a while.
However, on the stage of Berlin, that is that the parliamentary group has said, as they say, redefined their curriculum in the major region of German politics. He “carried this process in CDU with the new basic program, carried forward and completed the process.” His conclusion: “It puts us back on the track.”
Merz is now standing for a CDU which has been a much more conservative, although there has been little change in his positions in the last 20 years: he is now returning to nuclear power and has tried to get the entire migration policy. .
In the hours after the collapse of the alliance of scools between SPD, Greens and FDP, he said that “traffic light alliance” was already a matter of past: “Traffic lights have a history of the beach from last night. Do not fail due to FDP alone, but due to a common basic shortage for a government alliance, I want to change the government and their minority government. Will work with partners.
This article was original in German, it was first published in November 2024 when Frederick Merz became the top candidate of his party. It has been updated to reflect the latest developments.
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