Il Nuovo Postiglione - Friedrich Merz: millionaire conservative on verge of German chancellery

With his CDU leading in the polls but his personal approval ratings lukewarm, the former corporate high-flyer and hobby pilot has invited supporters to his picturesque western hometown of Brilon.

Merz's delivery at the traditional sausage breakfast may be stiff compared to his rambunctious Bavarian ally Markus Soeder but the rustic setting underscores his campaign motto of "a Germany we can be proud of again".

Speaking on the eve of US President Donald Trump's inauguration, he tells the crowd that "our world will be different tomorrow evening" but voices confidence that a strong Germany and a united Europe can talk to Trump on eye level.

If Merz, 69, avoids final stumbles to win the February 23 election against centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as polls have long predicted, he will have achieved his life's goal, over two decades after he was elbowed out of the way by party rival Angela Merkel.

He may never have held a government leadership post but his plans are ambitious and spell a strong rightward shift away from the more centrist Merkel.

A Roman Catholic and social conservative, Merz has promised to stop illegal migration, vowed "zero tolerance" on crime and pledged to reverse marijuana legalisation and other "woke" policies.

A fervent free-market liberal who wants to cut corporate taxes and slash red tape to help Germany Inc, he outlined his pro-business views in a 2008 book titled "Dare More Capitalism".

A committed trans-Atlanticist, he has also promised to open "a new chapter" with the United States and reach out to Trump, whom he personally congratulated in a handwritten letter this week.

All of this, wrote news weekly Die Zeit, positions the old-school conservative as "the CDU's answer" to win back voters drifting to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now polling at around 20 percent.

- Merkel rival -

Merz was born on November 11, 1955 and lives in the rural Sauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia state. He has been married for more than 40 years to Charlotte Merz, a judge, and they have three adult children.

At 198 cm (6ft 6 in), Merz stands out in a crowd, and is a licensed pilot who sometimes flies his own private jet.

Trained as a lawyer, he was elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and soon after to the Bundestag, where his mentor was the CDU's late powerbroker Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Merz lost a leadership contest against Merkel, who took over the CDU in 2002 as the party struggled to rebuild after Helmut Kohl's reign ended in a slush fund scandal.

Merkel went on to become Germany's second-longest serving post-war chancellor while Merz -- his influence greatly diminished -- for over a decade pursued a career in the private sector.

He served on multiple corporate boards including at US investment firm BlackRock.

His business world success and wealth have left him open to charges of being out of touch with voters -- a claim he has rejected by insisting he belongs to the "upper middle class".

Merz is rhetorically skilled and visibly enjoys a good political scrap.

He has also sparked anger by labelling the sons of Muslim immigrants "little pashas" and accusing some Ukrainian war refugees of "social welfare tourism", before later apologising.

Merz rained down withering criticism on Scholz's government, blaming its "wrongheaded" policies and "green-tinted interventionism" for Germany's stuttering economy.

Scholz has sought to portray his rival as a "hothead" who would, by sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, play "Russian roulette" with nuclear-armed Moscow.

News magazine Der Spiegel has said Merz tends to take conflicts personally and is given to fits of anger, opining that "if Merz were a bullfighter, he would probably hold the red cloth in front of his stomach".

M.Lombardi--INP