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 street or rail, however by parachute.
Mr. Merz, then a company lawyer, had by no means jumped out of a airplane. 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 threat of stumbling. He was anticipated to grow to be Germany’s subsequent chancellor on Tuesday, after his occasion gained 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 ultimately prevail.
Mr. Merz, who has no govt 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 collection of nationwide crises, together with a stagnant financial system and a frayed relationship with america.
An ascendant nationalist occasion, the anti-immigrant Various for Germany, or AfD, which German home intelligence simply categorized as extremist, has surpassed Mr. Merz and his mainstream political counterparts in some polls.
Within the months since his occasion gained elections in February, Mr. Merz has been aggressive about addressing these challenges.
He has criticized President Trump and questioned the steadiness of American democracy, and he has huddled with international counterparts in an effort to steer a newly muscular Europe. He rapidly broke a key marketing campaign promise on fiscal restraint, slicing a take care of center-left rivals to loosen up Germany’s hallowed limits on authorities borrowing with a view to spend “no matter it takes” on nationwide protection.
And regardless of becoming a member of the AfD in an effort to go 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 large points worrying the German public: development, protection, immigration.
“I feel he’s extraordinarily properly ready and really deep and considerate,” mentioned John P. Schmitz, a deputy White Home counsel below 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 airplane in Corsica with Mr. Merz round 2005.
However others suppose that Mr. Merz struggles to plan multiple step forward, main him to interrupt guarantees. That, they are saying, has reduce into his recognition.
His about-faces on spending and migration have alienated a lot of his base conservative voters. Mr. Merz and his occasion 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 scores of any German chief within the trendy period.
“There’s this outdated saying: ‘No matter you do, act correctly and contemplate the top,’” mentioned Ruprecht Polenz, a former secretary common of Mr. Merz’s occasion. “This considering,” he added, “I really feel isn’t his predominant power.”
Mr. Schmitz dismisses such criticism, saying that Mr. Merz’s capability to be versatile is an indication of his management.
Within the capital, Mr. Merz is understood for his appeal and talent to heat to new concepts. Mates typically complain that he’s too closely influenced by the final particular person to talk with him earlier than he makes an enormous resolution — however that, as soon as he makes that call, he hates to be challenged on it. That has typically brought about critics to accuse him of stubbornness.
In 2020, the 6-foot-6-inch Mr. Merz gave an interview by which he was requested concerning the notion he was conceited. “My top alone is, after all, a possible goal for such prejudices,” he mentioned. “Bodily talking, I look down on many individuals, so it’s solely a small step to ‘trying down on them.’”
A former company lawyer with important wealth, Mr. Merz has promised a extra conservative course in each the nation and the occasion 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, by which 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 linked to his homeland and is aware of the place he comes from,” mentioned Niklas Frigger, the deputy mayor of Brilon, who’s from Mr. Merz’s occasion.
Mr. Merz additionally involves the city each a number of weeks, often on a Sunday, to drink espresso together 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 choose of an area court docket within the Sauerland city of Arnsberg, the place they reside, and so they have three grown kids.
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 rapidly climbed the ranks of the Christian Democrats, observed for his management and talking qualities.
Within the early 2000s, after shedding an influence wrestle to Ms. Merkel, Mr. Merz turned away from politics and began a profession in company regulation, advising shoppers who wished 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 financial system was booming, infrastructure was new and paperwork labored.
However challenges mounted for him, taking over 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 occasion 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 occasion in February.
To safe their votes for army 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 grow to be more and more disenchanted by a collection of actions by the U.S. administration. These included vows to tug again American troops in Europe and a speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munich by which he attacked Europeans on “free speech” and warned them to cease sidelining events just like the AfD.
Mr. Merz was additionally shocked by the dressing-down that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance gave Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president and a fellow ally, within the Oval Workplace. “In my view, this was not a spontaneous response to Zelensky’s statements, however somewhat an intentional escalation of tensions through the assembly within the Oval Workplace,” Mr. Merz mentioned on the time.
Mr. Merz has more and more pushed again towards the Trump administration, warning Germans they have to take accountability for their very own safety. “Do you severely consider that an American authorities will conform to proceed NATO as earlier than?” he requested lawmakers in March.
Even a lot of those that have criticized Mr. Merz’s management model have permitted of his stance towards america.
“I consider that he actually understands how the worldwide scenario has modified and what’s altering within the U.S.,” mentioned Mr. Polenz, the previous secretary common of Mr. Merz’s occasion. “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 greatest he can. However he’s below no illusions concerning the problem of the duty forward.”
Tatiana Firsova contributed reporting from Berlin.