Portrait of Friedrich Merz
Center-right · Leader · Active today

Friedrich Merz

Chancellor of Germany, 2025 to present

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A conservative former corporate lawyer who leads the CDU and loosened Germany’s debt rules to raise defense and infrastructure spending.

Friedrich Merz sits in the right-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning free market and leaning authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly institutional on institutions, leaning strength-first on war and peace and leaning free market on economy. The profile is close to the middle on environment.

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Where Friedrich Merz sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyLeaning free market
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureLeaning traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationSlightly nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentCentered on environment
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceLeaning strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Friedrich Merz

Dwight D. Eisenhower US President, 1953 to 196199%Mitt Romney US Senator from Utah, 2019 to 202599%Kamla Persad-Bissessar Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, 2010 to 2015 and 2025 to present99%Niall Ferguson Scottish-American historian99%David Cameron UK Prime Minister, 2010 to 201699%Rishi Sunak Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 2022 to 202499%Kyriakos Mitsotakis Prime Minister of Greece, 2019 to present99%Alix Didier Fils-Aimé Acting Prime Minister of Haiti, 2024 to present99%

People furthest from Friedrich Merz

Emma Goldman Russian-born anarchist and writer, 1869 to 19404%John Lennon British musician and peace activist, 1940 to 19807%Murray Bookchin American social theorist, 1921 to 20067%Leo Tolstoy Russian novelist and moral thinker, 1828 to 19108%

Political views closest to Friedrich Merz

Liberal conservatismCombines free markets and limited government with respect for institutions, tradition…99%NeoconservatismPairs free markets and traditional values with an assertive, democracy-promoting foreign…98%Realism in foreign policySees international politics as a contest of power and interests in which states act to…96%Hawkish realismSees the world as a contest between states, where military strength and alliances secure…96%

Read more about Friedrich Merz

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Biographies of Friedrich MerzBooks on liberal conservatism

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.