Friedrich Merz

RegeringschefFederal Chancellor of Germany (Bundeskanzler)

Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) — European People's Party (EPP) · Tyskland

Profilen är skriven på engelska

Friedrich Merz (born 11 November 1955 in Brilon, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German lawyer and Christian Democratic politician who has been Federal Chancellor since 6 May 2025, heading a coalition of the CDU/CSU and the SPD with Lars Klingbeil (SPD) as Vice-Chancellor. A former judge and chemical-industry association lawyer, he sat in the European Parliament (1989–1994) and represented the Hochsauerlandkreis in the Bundestag (1994–2009), chairing the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2000 to 2002 before losing a power struggle with Angela Merkel and leaving parliament. During a private-sector career he was partner and later senior counsel at the law firm Mayer Brown, chaired the Atlantik-Brücke and was chairman of BlackRock's German supervisory board (2016–2020); he returned to the Bundestag in 2021 and has led the CDU since January 2022. After the CDU/CSU won 28.5% in the February 2025 federal election, he became the first chancellor-designate in the Federal Republic's history to fail in the first round of the Bundestag vote, and was elected in a second round the same day. His government loosened the constitutional debt brake to finance defence and infrastructure, tightened asylum and naturalisation rules and replaced the Bürgergeld with a stricter basic income support; as of October 2026 he faces record-low approval ratings, heavy CDU losses in the September 2026 state elections and coalition tensions that culminated in the resignation of Labour Minister and SPD co-leader Bärbel Bas on 12 October 2026.