Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) President Frederick Merz is set to become the next Chancellor of Germany based on the German general election project held on 23 February.
Their center-in-in block (CDU/CSU) had been a long-relaxed leading, sitting in public opinion surveys at about 30%, and the bee was given the bee to the main challenger for the mentor of the Center-Leam Social Democrats, the Chancellor of Social Democrats Was accepted as ((SPD).
At the end of this week, his election victory completed a remarkable comeback for Merz, which re -incorporated Bundestag after a gap of 12 years from politics in 2021.
The 69 -year -old will be the oldest Chancellor since Konrad Adenor, 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.
He recently did so at the final party conference in late January before this election, trigger a political storm when he with the help of the correct option for Germany (AFD) to pass a difficult immigration bill through Parliament with the help of the right choice for Germany (AFD). Tryed.
The move triggered shock waves across the country, in which the protesters said cooperation as an impenetrable violation of the post -war of cooperation.
However, Merz clearly saw her move as a gambling, which aims to curb the success of the anti -immigration AFD.
In the early 2000s, Merz was often considered as a rival to Merkel. In 2001, he put forward him as a 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 sharp speaker. What he said in the parliamentary group increased weight.
Merz’s exit from politics after their growth in the private sector. 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
In the 1990s, Merz voted against liberalizing abortion laws and pre-departed genetic diagnosis. He disrupted a lot against criminalization of marital rape in 1997.
Hey who is always in favor of 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 Germany should have “major guiding culture”.
He is now bringing some of these issues again – but in a very different political and social status with Germany. On the political talk show “Marcus Lanz” in January 2023, he complained about lack 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, Who do we do, do not send back, which we do not exist, and then we are surprised that the search is more. denied They were doing, which he prepares as “small animals”.
This attracted a lot of controversy for its racist overtones at that time. There was not much criticism from the top of Hawtver CDU. After the end of the Merkel years, many farmer Chancellor’s political colleagues were abandoned. Apart from this, since last summer, Merz has found Himola to correct and defend some of his own statements.
A more conservative party
On Berlin’s stage, Merz claims that the CDU Parliament Group has found a new course in the major area. He started the process in CDU with the new basic program, proceeded and completed the process, “he argues, which” puts us back on track. “
Merz now stands for a CDU who is more conservative, even though there has been very little change in their own positions in the last 20 years.
In November, after the collapse of the scool’s coalition government to form an alliance between SPD, Greens and FDP, Merz desk the alliance as “history”.
“Traffic lights did not fail due to FDP alone,” he said at that time, “but from the beginning due to a general basic deficiency for a government alliance.”
‘Is over to the left’
But Merz and CDU and CSU may now have to deal with the same problem: Who can they form a coalition government?
Merz has denied an alliance with far-off AFDs several times in early January. But on Saturday, a few hours before the election, it doubled the criticism of other major German political parties. To end the election campaign, in Munich, in a final speech, Merz argued that “the Left is over. Now there is no leftist majority and Germany does not have much left politics.”
He came out on protests against far-flung extremism on Saturday and said that if he won, he would conduct politics for the German majority “who think directly” and “Any green or leaf in this world- Not for wings. “
The unpredictable leaders of the Central-Vam Social Democratic Party were not pleased.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeal wrote in a post on the social media platform X (East Twitter), “Fraudic Mars is deepening the divisions at our country’s Democratic Center in the final stail of the election campaign.”
SPD General Secretary Mathius Meres told news agency DPA, “It’s not how some people say what is to be a chancellor for all.” “In this way a mini-plane speakers.”
Prior to the elections, the SPD was widely expected to be the most potential coalition partner of Christian Democrats in the next German government.
The article was original in German and was first published in November 2024 when Frederick Merz became the top candidate of his party. It has been updated to reflect the latest development.
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