Is Merz the saviour of Germany's CDU?
The new leader of Germany's political opposition has made a strong start. Can he keep it up?
This week Ralph Brinkhaus suffered a humiliation that Friedrich Merz knows only too well.
He had to watch as Merz was voted by CDU MdBs to take over from him as their leader in the Bundestag. With his victory over Brinkhaus, (who admitted defeat weeks ago, allowing his opponent to win the vote uncontested) Merz has taken an unrivaled role in the party as CDU chairman and Bundestag faction leader.
Things have come full circle for the 66-year-old Merz, who served as CDU faction leader at the beginning of the century, but reluctantly gave up the role after losing a power battle with Angela Merkel.
That defeat to Merkel in 2002 wasn’t one that Merz took well. Famously prickly, he told a newspaper that his rival was only interested in her own career.
After spending a couple of years as Merkel’s deputy, he disappeared from the front lines of politics before leaving the Bundestag altogether in 2009, when he moved into the private sector and earned himself a small fortune.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The German Review to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.