Friedrich Merz officially took over the reins of the German Christian Democratic Party. Gathered in congress in Hanover, this weekend, the CDU delegates confirmed the vote of the militants, who had granted him 62.1% of the votes against his two other rivals, Norbert Röttgen (25.8%) and Helge Brown (12.1%). After this victory without appeal, Friedrich Merz, the “anti-Merkel”, begins a mandate by promising a ” constructive opposition to the government coalition.
His tenacity and perseverance eventually paid off. Friedrich Merz will still have bided his time for more than twenty years. Ousted, unceremoniously from the head of his parliamentary group by Angela Merkel, in 2002, he left the political scene in 2009, before returning nearly a decade later. Meanwhile, the 1.98m dry giant has made a fortune in finance, notably with asset manager BlackRock.
In 2018, when the Chancellor began to prepare for her departure, Friedrich Merz returned, supported by the conservative wing of the CDU, pleading for a change within his political formation. But he will have to do it three times to be elected to the presidency of the Christian Democratic Party. “ It took the departure of Angela Merkel for him to access these new functions of president of the CDU », notes Étienne Dubslaff, lecturer in German civilization at Montpellier 3 University. “ These activists are clearly more to the right than the notables of the party. They support a more liberal model in economic and social matters, and more conservative in societal terms, in other words the complete opposite of what Angela Merkel had taken her party to “.
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The Chancellor gone, her foals discarded, Friedrich Merz “ finally gets his revenge », affirms the German political scientist Werner Patzelt, close to the CDU. “ He succeeds his lifelong political rival, Angela Merkel. But a lot will depend on his ability to overcome this feeling of revenge and accept his role as party leader, which also involves cooperating with those close to the former chancellor. “. Frank Baasner, director of the Franco-German Institute in Ludwigsburg, believes that the new boss of the CDU “ will settle his personal accounts ». But it will, above all, have to get out of the practices of the Merkel era, “ which consisted of occupying the middle ground and, with great credibility, sitting a little to the left a little to the right “. He will no longer be able to continue on this path, because it is now the SPD and Chancellor Scholz who “ embody that spirit “.
Representative of the ultra-liberal right
Originally from western Germany, Catholic, Friedrich Merz specialized in law before entering politics at a young age. At 34, he was elected MEP. A good speaker, a good debater, he was leader of the CDU group in the Bundestag between 2000 and 2002, when the party was in opposition.
At 66, the new parton of the Christian Democrats, representative of the ultra-liberal right, is trying today to give the image of a unifier, saying he is ready to work with all the tendencies of the party. Very critical of the policy he considered too centrist of Angela Merkel, opposed to the reception of refugees in 2015, he has held, in recent weeks, a speech of appeasement. But he is often described as not being able to work in a team. “ He’s someone sharp »,emphasizes Etienne Dubslaff. “ Where Angela Merkel was a relatively round person, who sought to circumvent conflicts and find compromises, she is much more into it. This may appeal to a base which found itself a bit of an orphan and felt that conservative and liberal ideas had not been sufficiently defended by the Chancellor “.
To try to get his party out of the rut, after the debacle in the September legislative elections, the new leader of the Christian Democratic opposition will have to give a clear line. Will the party experience a shift to the right? Will he be tempted to drive out the electorate of the far-right AFD party? Frank Baasner doubts it: “ I rather think that he will try to regain credibility through deep convictions and a vision of society that is not the same as that of the Social Democrats and the Greens. . He could also play the liberal card, according to the director of the Franco-German Institute in Ludwigsburg: “ The Christian Democrats have always been credible in defending the logic of the market, even if it is rather a question of a social economy, and Friedrich Merz having made a career in the private sector, he will be credible ».
Towards openness?
If it leans too far to the right, the CDU could find it difficult to ally itself, later, with other parties, notes Etienne Dubslaff for his part. “ The Liberal Party, its natural ally, is currently doing something in common with the SPD and the Greens. There is therefore no longer a centre-right party in the opposition. If the CDU found itself alone on the right, it could struggle to find alliances that could bring it back to power », Estimates the lecturer in German civilization at the University of Montpellier 3.
In his acceptance speech after the activists’ vote, the new CDU boss hinted that he would be open. “ He must also take into account public opinion, which in Germany is influenced by journalists. However, three quarters of them defend ecological and social democratic positions », Werner Patzelt analysis.“Therefore, if he wants to work with public opinion and not be sidelined, he must show that he is not just a right-wing conservative, but a centrist, more open-minded person.“.
Often presented as a misogynist, Friedrich Merz chose a young mother, Christina Stumpp, elected from Baden-Württemberg, to become vice-president. The former business lawyer has also appointed Mario Czaja, 46, representative of the social current of the party, as secretary general of the CDU.
Friedrich Merz will pass a first full-scale test in March with the regional election of Saarland, a Land today led by the CDU in coalition with the Social Democrats.