Friedrich Merz

Friedrich Merz has served as Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany since May 2025 and as Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2022. He previously led the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag from 2000 to 2002 and from 2022 to 2025. A lawyer by training, he served in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994 and in the Bundestag from 1994 to 2009, returning in 2021.