Twenty years in the past, earlier than Friedrich Merz got here again from the non-public sector to win the German chancellorship, he accepted an invite to a gathering of the French Overseas Legion in Corsica. On the final second, the organizers requested him to reach on the parade floor not by highway or rail, however by parachute.
Mr. Merz, then a company lawyer, had by no means jumped out of a aircraft. However a fellow attendee recalled just lately that Mr. Merz didn’t hesitate. He made the bounce — efficiently, however with a little bit of a tough touchdown.
Now 69 and a politician, Mr. Merz is trying a way more precarious leap with an identical danger of stumbling. He was anticipated to develop into Germany’s subsequent chancellor on Tuesday, after his get together received the February nationwide election. However in an indication of the challenges he faces, Mr. Merz fell six votes quick in a primary vote in Parliament.
He now faces a second spherical of voting and is anticipated to finally prevail.
Mr. Merz, who has no government expertise in authorities, can be taking workplace on the most difficult time for the nation for the reason that reunification of East and West Germany 35 years in the past.
He and his coalition authorities, led by his center-right Christian Democrats, will land in a sequence of nationwide crises, together with a stagnant economy and a frayed relationship with the US.
An ascendant nationalist get together, the anti-immigrant Different for Germany, or AfD, which German home intelligence simply classified as extremist, has surpassed Mr. Merz and his mainstream political counterparts in some polls.
Within the months since his get together received elections in February, Mr. Merz has been aggressive about addressing these challenges.
He has criticized President Trump and questioned the soundness of American democracy, and he has huddled with overseas counterparts in an effort to guide a newly muscular Europe. He shortly broke a key marketing campaign promise on fiscal restraint, slicing a cope with center-left rivals to calm down Germany’s hallowed limits on authorities borrowing to be able to spend “no matter it takes” on nationwide protection.
And regardless of joining the AfD in an effort to cross new immigration restrictions shortly earlier than the election, he has vowed to shun them in Parliament as soon as extra. He has additionally reversed a pledge to show away asylum seekers.
Mr. Merz’s supporters say the strikes are the hallmark of an agile politician with the potential to ship on the massive points worrying the German public: development, protection, immigration.
“I believe he’s extraordinarily effectively ready and really deep and considerate,” stated John P. Schmitz, a deputy White Home counsel beneath George H.W. Bush. Mr. Schmitz helped rent Mr. Merz to work within the German places of work of the Chicago regulation agency Mayer Brown and jumped out of the aircraft in Corsica with Mr. Merz round 2005.
However others assume that Mr. Merz struggles to plan multiple step forward, main him to interrupt guarantees. That, they are saying, has lower into his reputation.
His about-faces on spending and migration have alienated lots of his base conservative voters. Mr. Merz and his get together have sagged within the polls for the reason that election, and the AfD has drawn even with them in some surveys. He’s beginning with one of many lowest approval rankings of any German chief within the fashionable period.
“There’s this previous saying: ‘No matter you do, act correctly and contemplate the tip,’” stated Ruprecht Polenz, a former secretary common of Mr. Merz’s get together. “This pondering,” he added, “I really feel is just not his principal energy.”
Mr. Schmitz dismisses such criticism, saying that Mr. Merz’s means to be versatile is an indication of his management.
Within the capital, Mr. Merz is understood for his allure and skill to heat to new concepts. Associates typically complain that he’s too closely influenced by the final particular person to talk with him earlier than he makes a giant resolution — however that, as soon as he makes that call, he hates to be challenged on it. That has typically precipitated critics to accuse him of stubbornness.
In 2020, the 6-foot-6-inch Mr. Merz gave an interview wherein he was requested in regards to the notion he was conceited. “My top alone is, after all, a possible goal for such prejudices,” he stated. “Bodily talking, I look down on many individuals, so it’s solely a small step to ‘wanting down on them.’”
A former company lawyer with vital wealth, Mr. Merz has promised a extra conservative course in each the nation and the get together he inherited from Angela Merkel, who left the chancellery three and a half years in the past.
That partly displays his background within the Sauerland area of the rich west of Germany, a area that defines his politics and persona. Throughout his marketing campaign, Mr. Merz ran on the slogan “Extra Sauerland for Germany,” evoking the area’s picture as a heartland of the nation.
Each two years he attends a ritual relationship from Medieval instances within the picturesque city of Brilon, the place he was born and raised, wherein native males stroll alongside the city’s borders earlier than gathering for a celebration within the fields.
“That is what distinguishes him: He has at all times remained carefully related to his homeland and is aware of the place he comes from,” stated Niklas Frigger, the deputy mayor of Brilon, who’s from Mr. Merz’s get together.
Mr. Merz additionally involves the city each a number of weeks, normally on a Sunday, to drink espresso along with his dad and mom, who, at 97 and 101, just lately moved right into a senior dwelling, residents say. His spouse, Charlotte Merz, is the chief decide of an area court docket within the Sauerland city of Arnsberg, the place they dwell, they usually have three grown youngsters.
The brand new chancellor, who has talked about being wild as a youth earlier than turning issues round and going to school, began his political profession in 1989 within the then-fledgling European Parliament. He quickly moved to Berlin, the place he shortly climbed the ranks of the Christian Democrats, seen for his management and talking qualities.
Within the early 2000s, after shedding an influence battle to Ms. Merkel, Mr. Merz turned away from politics and began a profession in company regulation, advising purchasers who needed to ascertain their companies in Germany. Mr. Merz served on a number of boards, together with that of the American funding agency BlackRock, earlier than returning to politics after Ms. Merkel introduced her retirement.
Throughout his election marketing campaign, Mr. Merz tried tapping right into a craving for a time when Germany’s economic system was booming, infrastructure was new and paperwork labored.
However challenges mounted for him, taking on a lot of his consideration.
Regardless of ending first within the February election, Mr. Merz’s choices have been restricted as a result of the get together had carried out poorly. He had just one believable coalition accomplice, the Social Democrats, who had led the extraordinarily unpopular earlier authorities and registered a document low for his or her get together in February.
To safe their votes for navy spending and extra, Mr. Merz handed an unusually massive variety of cupboard positions to his junior accomplice. He softened his plans on immigration, together with his promise to reject asylum seekers on the border.
Mr. Merz has expressed hopes of forging a constructive relationship with Mr. Trump, however allies say he has develop into more and more disenchanted by a sequence of actions by the U.S. administration. These included vows to drag again American troops in Europe and a speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munich wherein he attacked Europeans on “free speech” and warned them to cease sidelining events just like the AfD.
Mr. Merz was additionally surprised by the dressing-down that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance gave Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president and a fellow ally, within the Oval Workplace. “For my part, this was not a spontaneous response to Zelensky’s statements, however moderately an intentional escalation of tensions throughout the assembly within the Oval Workplace,” Mr. Merz stated on the time.
Mr. Merz has more and more pushed again in opposition to the Trump administration, warning Germans they have to take duty for their very own safety. “Do you critically consider that an American authorities will conform to proceed NATO as earlier than?” he requested lawmakers in March.
Even lots of those that have criticized Mr. Merz’s management model have accepted of his stance towards the US.
“I consider that he actually understands how the worldwide state of affairs has modified and what’s altering within the U.S.,” stated Mr. Polenz, the previous secretary common of Mr. Merz’s get together. “He’s a staunch supporter of trans-Atlantic relations and will definitely attempt to keep and stabilize all relations between Germany, Europe and the U.S. as finest he can. However he’s beneath no illusions in regards to the problem of the duty forward.”
Tatiana Firsova contributed reporting from Berlin.
