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Friedrich Merz, candidate of the Union for Chancellor and CDU Federal Chairman, joins the “Quadrell” TV spherical within the Bondstag election marketing campaign.
Michael Kappeler | Photograph Alliance | Getty pictures
Friedrich Merz, Migration Hardliner and previous rival of Angela Merkel, is anticipated to be the following Chancellor of Germany. His get together The Christian Democratic Union leads polls alongside her companion the Christian Social Union only some days earlier than the elections.
In September, Merz was chosen because the designated candidate of the CDU get together for Chancellor on this yr’s federal elections, after having led the group and the CDU-CSU parliamentary group of the opposition in Leiden since 2022. The CSU is a Regional get together that has dominated a regional get together for many years and types a union with the CDU at federal degree.
Between politics and affairs
Earlier than he entered politics, Merz, 69, studied regulation and first labored as a choose, then as a lawyer at Mayer Brown LLP. He has additionally held senior positions at varied massive corporations, together with BlackRock Germany and HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, and serves on the cabinets of EY Germany, Borussia Dortmund and Deutsche Börse.
Merz is married and has three kids. He Reportedly owns two plane, which he has in his spare time pilots.
Merz says he grew to become a member of the CDU when he was nonetheless in class and ultimately led the native department of the get together’s youth group. In 1989 he took on the position of member of the European Parliament for a 5 -year time period of workplace earlier than he fell to German Bundestag for 15 years.
A lot of Merz’s political profession within the early 2000s was characterised by a rivalry with Angela Merkel, the place the 2 compete for management positions within the CDU and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. Merz first grew to become chairman after which deputy head of the final group after 2000.
He resigned from this place in 2004, with observers The second this urged that this was because of the rise of Merkel by the ranks.
Angela Merkel and Friedrich Merz in 2001.
Ullstein Bild DTL. | Ullstein Bild | Getty pictures
Tensions between Merkel and Merz get caught to at the present time, with the previous German Chancellor final month criticize The CDU chief for collaborating with the intense right-wing various Fuer Deutschland about parliamentary voices.
Coverage positions
Identical to the CDU, Merz follows on the center-right coverage positions and is seen as a social conservative, pro-business politician.
Merz has argued for To scale back taxes on earnings and for corporations, along with chopping forms to stimulate corporations and innovation and to regulate the framework circumstances for business in Germany to stimulate non-public investments. He additionally shared his aim to make Germany extra enticing for startups and mentioned that he would create a brand new ministerial position to focus on digitization and AI.
The CDU chief has additionally indicated that he is perhaps open to the reform of Germany’s enormously disputed debt brake Rule, which limits how a lot debt the federal government can assume and limits the structural price range deficit of the federal authorities.
Merz has been very vital of the financial coverage underneath the federal government of Olaf Scholz, which means that they’re the reason for the stoop of the nation and to evoke nice shifts.
This angle has taken criticism About financial coverage that focuses an excessive amount of on local weather change, of which Merz says he’ll change. Though he broadly acknowledges the local weather disaster as an issue, Merz has been skeptical about some actions taken to deal with it, for instance constructing wind generators.
Within the discipline of overseas coverage, Merz urged Throughout the Munich security convention final weekend, Germany ought to take a stronger management place in Europe and mentioned that the struggle in Ukraine ought to finish shortly, whereas point out That he could be open to additional deliveries of weapons to the controversial nation.
Merz, nevertheless, has broadly designed questions on plans for the protection spending on Germany within the midst of the controversy about whether or not NATO members ought to stimulate their financing on this space.
A coverage drawback that MERZ has introduced into sizzling water is immigration. He has argued for For elevated safety measures, elevated deportations and the border controls of the Shaper, criticized from the present asylum and migration coverage of Germany as relaxed and slowly shifting and connects them to violent to assault carried out within the nation by people who find themselves deported.
The state of affairs got here to a head In January, when a non-binding motion underneath the management of Merz was supported by the Afd Die the primary time within the post-war historical past of Germany it was marked {that a} majority was reached with the assistance of the very proper.
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