But the CDU didn’t choose him—at least, not at first. Twice, it picked centrists in the mold of Merkel. But the party kept losing electoral ground. Finally, in 2022, its members saw fit to ...

where his mentor was the late CDU powerbroker Wolfgang Schaeuble. After chancellor Helmut Kohl's long reign ended in a slush fund scandal, Merkel soon sidelined Merz to take over the party and ...

So far, only one party has picked a candidate to lead it into the vote: the Social Democrats (CDU) with Olaf Scholz, who currently serves as Chancellor Merkel's deputy in a coalition with her ...

Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU has 208 out of 630 seats in the new Bundestag. Klöckner was Federal Minister of Agriculture in the last cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU ...