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Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef "Friedrich" Merz (German: [mɛɐts]; born 11 November 1955) is a German politician who has served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and led the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as well as been Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since 15 February 2022. In September 2024, Merz became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany ahead of the 2025 federal election. Merz was born in Brilon, and is of French Huguenot descent on his mother's side. He joined the Young Union in 1972. After finishing law school in 1985, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before entering full-time politics in 1989 when he was elected to the European Parliament. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU. In 2000 he was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the same year as Angela Merkel was elected chairwoman of the CDU, and at the time they were chief rivals for the leadership of the party, which led the opposition together with CSU. After the 2002 federal election, CDU party leader Angela Merkel claimed the parliamentary group chairmanship for herself, while Merz was elected deputy parliamentary group leader. In December 2004, he resigned from this office, thereby giving up the years-long power struggle with Merkel and gradually withdrew from politics, focusing on his legal career and leaving parliament entirely in 2009, until his return to parliament in 2021. In 2004 he became a senior counsel with Mayer Brown, where he has focused on mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, and compliance. He has served on the boards of numerous companies, including BlackRock Germany. In 2018, he announced his return to politics. He was elected CDU leader in December 2021, assuming the office in January 2022. He had failed to win the position in two previous leadership elections in 2018, and January 2021. As a young politician in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a staunch supporter of anti-communism, the dominant state doctrine of West Germany and a core tenet of the CDU. Merz has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal, and is seen as a representative of the traditional establishment conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU. His book Mehr Kapitalismus wagen (Venturing More Capitalism) advocates economic liberalism. He has been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism, and is a staunch supporter of the European Union and NATO, having described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced "transatlanticist". Merz advocates a closer union and "an army for Europe". A corporate lawyer and reputed multimillionaire, Merz is also a licensed private pilot and owns two airplanes.