Written by Michael Thervil
Chancellor Friedrich Merz Photo by AP
With elections in Germany being wrapped up as of last Sunday, it looks like Germany has a new Chancellor and his name is Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a member of what's known in Germany as the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) or simply known as the “Union”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the CDU seemed to have won the election by a landslide, earning 28.6% of the vote which equates to 208 of 630 seats in the German Parliament. The closest second and third political parties were the AFD (Alternative for Germany) 20.8% giving them 128 seats and the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) 16.4% 120 seats respectively.
Exactly, who is Chancellor Friedrich Merz? Newly elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz is a 77-year-old banker and conservative political figure whose political stance is centered on strengthening the socio-economic stability of both the European Union and NATO. Even more specifically, he is currently advocating for the independence of Germany from the control of the United States. This particular insight should be taken seriously because of Chancellor Friedrich Merz aspirations to create a new European Defense Alliance together in order to not only replace NATO, but as a means to wean members of the E.U. from depending on American security and protection.
With the recent elections essentially knocking off former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was left leaning and a part of the SPD German political party, is very unpopular amongst the German public and a sizable number of geopolitical and international security analysts. In contrast, when it comes to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the main issue that many people are taking issue with is that he’s a staunch supporter of Ukraine. Why? the answer to tht question could be a simply as understanding that as a banker his specialty consisted of the following:
Mergers And Acquisitions
Financial Services
Banking And Finance
Corporate Securities
International Trade
Power And Utilities
Renewable Energy
Energy Transactions
Projects And Infrastructure
This is important to know because it can be said that there is a race against time between the Trump Administration and Germany to see who is going to control the resources (natural and manmade) of Ukraine. With the Trump Administration, cutting off the funding of Ukraine’s provocation toward Russia, it is predicted that Chancellor Friedrich Merz will fan the flames of war against Russia because he is willing to provide both weapons and economic support to Ukraine. Worthy of note, Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the United States.
Another position that Chancellor Friedrich Merz is taking is a hardline stance on illegal immigration. Not only does he want to crack down on illegal immigration, but other European leaders are also starting to take a hawkish stance on illegal immigration as well. But in the case of Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is looking to curb illegal immigration because it’s perceived by a significant number of Germans that immigrants are taking advantage of Germany’s generous welfare state. When it comes to President Trump, Chancellor Friedrich Merz takes the position that if President Trump wants to put America first, then America will find itself alone as he views the Trump Administrations ambitions to “Put America First” as a geopolitical mistake that will backfire and isolate America from the global economy in terms of trade and security.
Even in the face of Chancellor Friedrich Merz placing Germany in the crosshairs of both the United States and Russia, it begs the question of what's at stake for the German economy. Considering that the industrial base of Germany is in shambles, major auto manufactures BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen has closed several of their assembly plants resulting in the laying off of workers. This has done nothing but increased the level of unemployment and labor shortages in Germany and has sparked fears of Germany’s decreasing role with it comes to international trade. Thus, further diminishing Germany’s GDP.
When it comes to the German energy sector, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made a heavy pivot toward France in the form of strengthening nuclear cooperation with France. But with France being kicked out of Africa and not being able to exploit the uranium mines of various African nations – the question becomes where and how will strengthening ties with France on the development of nuclear energy take place?
Currently there’s no clear answer to that question. The one thing that is clear is that Chancellor Friedrich Merz is bullish on turning around the decline of Germany and the European Union as a whole. But in having that ambition, it seems he doesn’t have a clear plan on how to accomplish that.
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