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Friedrich Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer, politician, and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 22 2022.He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1994 and as a member of the Bundestag from 1994 until 2009, where he chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2000 to 2002. He returned to the Bundestag in 2021.Merz joined the CDU's youth wing in 1972 and is reputed to be a member of the Andean Pact, a powerful network formed by members of the CDU youth wing in 1979 during a trip to the Andes. After finishing law school in 1985, he 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. He was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU 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.In 2002, he had to step down as leader of the opposition in favour of 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.In 2018, he announced his return to politics. He was a candidate in the 2018 CDU leadership election, placing second behind Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer; he ran again in the first 2021 leadership election, placing second behind Armin Laschet.Merz has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal, and is seen as a representative of the conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU. 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."Merz is Catholic and of French Huguenot descent on his mother's side. His wife, Charlotte Merz, is a judge; they have three children. A corporate lawyer and reputed multimillionaire, he is also a licensed private pilot and owns two airplanes.



Friedrich Merz

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The EU taxonomy for sustainable activities (ie. "green taxonomy") is a classification system established to clarify which investments are environmentally sustainable, in the context of the European Green Deal. The aim of the taxonomy is to prevent greenwashing and to help investors make greener choices. Investments are judged by six objectives: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, the circular economy, pollution, effect on water, and biodiversity. The taxonomy came into force in July 2020. The taxonomy is seen as the most comprehensive and sophisticated initiative of its type; it may inspire  other countries to develop their own taxonomies or may indeed become the world's 'gold standard'. However when the disclosure regime comes into effect in January 2022 there will still be huge gaps in data and it may be several years before it becomes evident whether it will be effective. The UK is working on its own separate taxonomy.The classifications of fossil gas and nuclear energy are controversial. The European Commission asked its Joint Research Centre to assess the environmental sustainability of nuclear. The results will be investigated for three months by two expert groups before the Commission makes a decision on the classification. Natural gas is seen by some countries as the bridge between coal and renewable energy, and those countries argue for natural gas to be considered sustainable under a set of conditions. In response, various members of the expert group that advises the European Commission threatened to step down. They stated they see inclusion of gas as a contradiction to climate science, as methane emissions from natural gas form are a significant greenhouse gas.



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