He enjoyed a steady rise there, notably popularizing the concept of Leitkultur, a set of norms to which every immigrant should submit. But the top prize was blocked by his longstanding rival, Angela Merkel. After losing the leadership to her in a bitter power struggle in the early 2000s, he gradually shifted into the private sector, amassing a sizable fortune in the process. But Ms. Merkel’s departure from the party leadership gave him a chance at a comeback. On his third attempt, promising a much tougher line on crime and migration, he finally took control of the party in early 2022.
His tenure has been uneven. Jutta Falke-Ischinger, a co-author of an unofficial biography of Mr. Merz, describes him as someone who lacks “impulse control,” and it’s possible to see that waywardness in his leadership. He has made headlines with insults to minority groups, including Ukrainian refugees and Muslim children, resulting in more than one public apology. His sometimes absurd, baseless comments — claiming, for example, that rejected asylum seekers were taking all of the country’s dental appointments, leaving none for Germans — suggest someone happy to play into right-wing talking points.
His biggest gamble, however, came during the election campaign. In January, after an asylum seeker stabbed several people in Bavaria, killing two, Mr. Merz brought a draconian anti-migrant proposal to Parliament, relying on votes from Alternative for Germany to pass it. This collaboration not only broke his own promise not to work with the party but also shattered the postwar firewall blocking the far right. Criticism was loud and immediate. Coming when he was cruising toward victory, it seemed like a strange step.
Since then, Mr. Merz has cast himself as a bulwark against autocracy, shielding Europe from the authoritarian depredations of America and Russia alike. There is no imposture here: An old-school institutionalist and lifelong trans-Atlanticist, Mr. Merz strongly believes in both the European Union and NATO. For him, German support for Ukraine is not up for debate and the emerging alliance between America and Russia is an indefensible affront. On election night, he said that Europe — where it was “five minutes to midnight” — must prepare to become independent from the United States.
These are strong words, to be sure. But it’s a move Germany has seen before. In the early 2000s, then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder also distanced the country from America, in that case over its war in Iraq, and energetically drove European integration. That’s not all Mr. Merz has borrowed from Mr. Schröder. His set of proposals, labeled Agenda 2030, bears more than a passing resemblance to a series of reforms enacted by the Schröder government, known as Agenda 2010. As with those earlier policies, the focus is on reducing social security payments, cutting regulations for companies and offering tax breaks to corporations. The aim, Mr. Merz has said, is to “restore the competitiveness of this country.”
