He has vowed to prioritize European unity and the continent’s security as it grapples with the new Trump administration and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Mr Merz revealed plans for two changes to the debt brake, a constitutional provision in place since 2009 that lets the government run only minuscule structural deficits. Next week parliament will be recalled to vote on them.

The German federal polls have closed, and the exit polls appear to have handed the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) a victory.

Merz, a man who has never held a government role, is preparing to take the reins in Germany just as the country faces economic and diplomatic crises.

Mr. Hermsmeier is a journalist who writes about Germany’s politics and society. Friedrich Merz didn’t waste time. Having led his party, the Christian Democrats, to first place in Germany’s ...

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Compared to last October, the vote for the CDU/CSU is down slightly vis a vis the polls, the AfD have not rallied as much as their admirers would have believed.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's mainstream conservatives, has said that Europe must become independent from the United States in security matters, after his grouping won the biggest share of the vote in federal elections.