Who is Friedrich Merz?
Friedrich Merz was born in 1955 in Brilon. He trained as a lawyer and briefly worked as a judge. The European Parliament was his first elected post, from 1989, followed by a Bundestag stint that ran from 1994 to 2009 and included leading the CDU/CSU group between 2000 and 2002. Business law occupied him next, until he returned to the Bundestag in 2021. In 2022 he took over as CDU chair. The February 2025 election put the Union in first place under his leadership, and a second ballot on 6 May 2025 elected him Chancellor, heading a coalition that includes the SPD.
Previously: Chair of the Christian Democratic Union (since 2022) · Chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group (2000-2002, 2022-2025) · Member of the Bundestag (1994-2009, since 2021) · Member of the European Parliament (1989-1994)
Documented positions
- His support went to the constitutional change of March 2025. Under it, defence spending above 1 percent of GDP no longer counts against the debt brake, and a 500 billion euro infrastructure fund was established.Source: wlrn.org
- Merz tabled a non-binding motion on stricter border and migration rules in January 2025. AfD backing helped it pass, 348 to 345.Source: nbcnews.com
- In March 2026 he voted to swap the Bürgergeld for a new Grundsicherung, which sets stricter work requirements and sanctions.Source: abgeordnetenwatch.de
- The military service law, which reintroduces compulsory screening of men born from 2008 but leaves service voluntary for now, got his vote in December 2025.Source: abgeordnetenwatch.de
- A 2025 pension package won his vote. Through 2031 it holds the pension level at 48 percent, and it widens credits for child-rearing.Source: abgeordnetenwatch.de
- He voted in February 2026 for legislation putting the EU asylum reform into German law, including border procedures at airports and seaports.Source: abgeordnetenwatch.de
- As Chancellor he travelled first to Paris, in May 2025, and there pressed EU partners to ratify the EU-Mercosur trade agreement without delay. Its trade part took provisional effect on 1 May 2026.Source: batimes.com.ar
- In December 2025 he supported funding a reparations loan for Ukraine from frozen Russian assets, saying he saw no better option.Source: pravda.com.ua
Record
Merz's government has passed the Grundsicherung reform, a pension package, a military service law and the package financing defence and infrastructure. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered asylum seekers turned back at the border in May 2025. A Berlin administrative court, in urgent proceedings in June 2025, found three of these rejections unlawful, but the government maintained the policy. Supporters view tighter migration rules and more investment in defence as promises kept.
Critics cite falling approval ratings and the July 2026 reshuffle, in which Jens Spahn gave way to Thorsten Frei as group leader, Nina Warken moved to the Chancellery and Carsten Linnemann became health minister. State elections in September 2026 produced an AfD win in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with the CDU at 4.9 percent there, and a Berlin result in which the CDU was beaten into second place by Die Linke. Merz called this a disaster and promised to keep the coalition together.
In their words
“whatever it takes must also go for our defense now”
