Merz is not yet chancellor, but he has already revolutionized Germany.

BerlinDuring a television debate during the election campaign, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was asked if he would board a plane piloted by the Conservative leader, Friedrich Merz"Yes," he replied without hesitation. "I suppose they justifiably gave him a pilot's license," the Social Democrat added. Merz, an amateur pilot, was also willing to give Scholz a ride on his private plane, although "it depends on where." "From Berlin to home, yes," said Merz, eager to replace him as chancellor.

The debate moderators then asked Merz if he would join Scholz in a rowboat, a sport the Social Democrat is fond of. Merz showed that he at least has a modicum of confidence in the outgoing chancellor's rowing skills. "Since I can swim quite well, I would also (get in) without a life jacket," joked the conservative leader.

At that time, Merz and Scholz were unaware that their two parties, which are now negotiating a future coalition government after the conservative victory in the February 23 elections, were about to embark on an adventure that would revolutionize Germany even before the conservative leader had landed in the chancellery. The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has scored a major legislative victory before being able to add the chancellor position to his resume.

Merz has achieved this week within both chambers of Parliament to make constitutional changes that will not only allow Germany to rearm, but also to launch a package of multi-million euro investments in infrastructure and the environment. The plan will allow Germany to take on one trillion euros of new debt. An extraordinary fund of 500 billion euros will be created over twelve years for additional investments in infrastructure. Of this investment package, 100 billion euros will be for additional investments aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2045.

With this decision, the Bundestag (lower house) and the Bundesrat (upper house) bury de facto the debt brake, anchored until now to the Basic Law, the German Constitution. A revolution in a country accustomed to the financial discipline and austerity championed by former conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, who governed Germany for 16 years.

But this has not been the only revolution that Merz has led since his party won the elections in February. He proclaimed Germany's independence from the United States and expressed openness to expanding the French nuclear umbrella, given the uncertainty of Washington's support following Trump's arrival at the White House.

Merz, "the antithesis" of Merkel

Merz, who has a reputation in Germany for being arrogant and impulsive, took 36 years to become chancellor. Throughout his political career, he served as an MEP (1989-1994) and a member of the Bundestag (1994-2009). Angela Merkel, his eternal rival in the party, crossed his path, and Merz eventually left politics to return to practicing law and enter the business world, where he became wealthy.

From 2009 to 2019, Merz, a self-proclaimed fan of former US President Ronald Reagan, was chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke, a renowned German non-profit association that promotes German-US friendship and transatlantic relations. From 2016 to 2020, he headed the supervisory board of the German branch of the investment manager BlackRock. And, back in politics, since January 2022 he has been the chairman of the CDU, the party of Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Kohl, and Merkel.

During the election campaign, Merz, who has always been very critical of the former chancellor, presented himself as the anti-Merkel on immigration. The CDU leader managed to pass two motions in the Bundestag to tighten the entry of immigrants and the reception of refugees, with the help of the votes of the extreme right. Merkel –which opened its doors between 2015 and 2016 to 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers, most of them Syrians– publicly criticized Merz to flirt with the far right, a taboo in Germany.

"Chancellor Merz will be a different Merz than the one we knew until now," predicts Volker Resing, author of the biography Friedrich Merz: Sein Weg zur Macht [Friedrich Merz: His Path to Power]. For now, the conservative leader, whom the far right accuses of having done the opposite of what he promised during his campaign with the financial package, has surprised everyone before even taking office.

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