Who is Frederick Mars? The new Chancellor of Germany rarely elected after the second ballot
A conservative stallwart of Angela Merkel and a long-time rival, 69-year-old Frederick Merz, was elected 10th Post-War Chancellor of Germany after a dramatic two-day parliamentary vote on Tuesday. His appointment symbolizes a return to the national spotlight for a politician, which once left public life completely.Merz secured Chancellorship in a second ballot with 325 votes, which failed to reduce the majority in the first round, a rare blow in the subsequent political history of Germany. He succeeds Olaf Sholz and inherited Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine with renewed uncertainty.Merz has vowed to unite Europe and strengthen the trans-tantraic relationship. A vocal proponent of high defense spending, he has already begun to emphasize for a more vocal German security currency, especially after Trump’s announcement of a new American tariff to sweep the global markets.Rural Northern Rhine-Westphalia, Merz, has long been made the champion of conservative values and represents an area that he described as “Down-to-Economic”. A lawyer from training, he first entered the European Parliament in 1989 and joined Bundestag in 1994. He quickly woke up before Merkel was sidelined in 2002, causing a long gap from frontline politics.After leaving Parliament in 2009, Merz worked in the private sector, including Blackrock’s German operations, and gained international risk through a frequent visit to the US and China, although he never stayed abroad.He entered politics after Merkel left in 2018, but lost the race for internal CDU leadership until the end after the party’s 2021 election defeat. Under the leadership of the party, his last rise and the head of the Sangh parliamentary block paved the way for his Chancellor.Merz is known for its unexpected conservative ideas, especially on migration. Their non-delicate proposal was called for strict limit control, which passed through the support of far-flung AFDs, instigating mass protests and criticism, including Merkel. He has refused to work with AFD and insisted that he would never do it.Outside politics, Mars is a licensed pilot that often flew himself to Berlin. According to his biographical writer Volkar Resing, Merz saw flying as freedom, a passion that he has also held during the increase in power.Due to no prior government experience, Merz now steps into Chancellori at an unstable time. His top priority: claiming Germany’s role in shaping a united European response to transfer the dynamics of global power.
