Friedrich Merz’s party won Germany’s national election in late February. After weeks of coalition negotiations, Mr. Merz finally made it to the chancellor’s office late Tuesday afternoon, one failed parliamentary vote and several hours behind schedule. In the interim, nearly all of Mr. Merz’s problems got worse. Forecasts for the stalled German economy, which Mr….
Friedrich Merz became Germany’s 10th postwar chancellor on Tuesday after a historic stumble that could complicate his efforts to revive the nation’s slumping economy, tighten its borders and rebuild its military, at a time when an isolated Europe is hungry for strong German leadership. After 10 weeks as the nation’s leader-in-waiting following his party’s victory…
May 6, 2025, 6:46 a.m. ET An election campaign poster for Friedrich Merz in western Germany this year. Credit…Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Before he returned to politics, won a national election and became the first would-be chancellor in modern German history to fail to win the job on the first ballot in Parliament,…
Two decades ago, before Friedrich Merz came back from the private sector to win the German chancellorship, he accepted an invitation to a gathering of the French Foreign Legion in Corsica. At the last moment, the organizers asked him to arrive on the parade ground not by road or rail, but by parachute. Mr. Merz,…
University of Roehampton welcomes Indian students for July 2025 intake with support from OIES The University of Roehampton London, in partnership with Oxford International Education Services (OIES), is now inviting applications from Indian students for its July 2025 postgraduate intake. This special session offers an exciting opportunity for students to join one of London’s top-ranked…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be replaced by conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz whose party, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), came out on top while Social Democrats slumped to a heavy loss in Sunday’s national elections. His party bagged the biggest vote share in Germany’s general elections, defeating Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The bloc…
Germans voted for a change of leadership on Sunday, handing the most votes in a parliamentary election to centrist conservatives, with the far right in second, and rebuking the nation’s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration. Early returns and exit polls almost certainly mean the country’s next chancellor will be Friedrich…
When Vice President JD Vance criticized his German hosts last week for sidelining far-right parties, he did not mention by name the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD. But soon after his speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he stunned the room by comparing democracy in today’s Europe to Soviet-era totalitarianism, Mr….
Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Saturday accused Vice President JD Vance of unacceptably interfering in his country’s imminent elections on behalf of a party that has played down the atrocities committed by the Nazis 80 years ago. A day after Mr. Vance stunned the Munich Security Conference by telling German leaders to drop their…
The president of Austria on Monday gave Herbert Kickl, the outspoken leader of the Alpine country’s far-right Freedom Party, the task of trying to form a government coalition, three months after the party won the most votes in a general election. “Mr. Kickl is confident that he can find viable solutions in the context of…