Merz has not won a majority in parliament. What is happening now?

Mr. Merz, then a company lawyer, had never jumped out of an airplane. But a fellow participant recently remembered that Mr. Merz did not hesitate. He made the jump – successful, but with a bit of a rough landing.

Now 69 and a politician, Mr. Merz tries a much precarious jump with a similar risk of stumbling. He was expected to become the next Chancellor of Germany on Tuesday, after his party won the National Elections of February. But in a sign of the challenges he stands for, Mr. Merz briefly fell in a first vote in parliament.

He is now confronted with a second voting round and is expected to prevail in the end.

Mr. Merz, who has no executive experience in the government, would perform his performance at the most challenging time before the nation since the reunification of East and West Germany 35 years ago.

He and his coalition government, led by his center -right Christian Democrats, will land in a series of national crises, including one stagnating economy And a frayed relationship with the United States.

An Ascendant Nationalist Party, the anti-immigrant alternative for Germany, or AfD, who simply German domestic intelligence service classified as extremistMr. Merz and his regular political counterparts exceeded in some polls.

In the months since his party won elections in February, Mr. Merz was aggressive about tackling those challenges.

He has criticized President Trump and questioned the stability of American democracy, and he has huddled with foreign counterparts in an attempt to lead a newly muscular Europe. He quickly broke an important campaign bow about tax restraint and concluded a deal with Center-left rivals to relax the holy boundaries of Germany to the government loans to “accept whatever” on national defense.

And despite Participate in the AfD In an attempt to go through new immigration restrictions shortly before the elections, he sworn to avoid them again in parliament. He also has a promise reversed to avert asylum seekers.

Mr. Merz’s supporters say that the movements are the characteristic of an agile politician with the potential to deliver the major problems that are concerned about the German public: growth, defense, immigration.

“I think he is extremely well prepared and very deep and thoughtful,” said John P. Schmitz, a deputy council of the White House under George HW Bush. Mr. Schmitz helped Mr Merz hire to work in the German offices of the Mayer Brown law firm in Chicago and jumped with Mr. Merz from the plane in Corsica around 2005.

But others think that Mr. Merz has difficulty planning more than one step forward, so that he has broken promises. That is, they say, cut into his popularity.

His overviews on editions and migration have alienated many of his basic conservative voters. Mr. Merz and his party have succeeded in the polls since the elections, and the AfD has even put themselves in some surveys. He starts with one of the lowest approval classifications of every German leader in modern times.

“There is this old saying:” Whatever you do, trade wisely and consider the end, “said Ruprecht Polenz, a former secretary -general of Mr. Merz’s party. “Thinking,” he added, “I don’t feel his most important power.”

Mr Schmitz rejects such criticism and says that Mr Merz’s ability to be flexible is a sign of his leadership.

In the capital, Mr. Merz is known for his charm and the ability to heat up to new ideas. Friends sometimes complain that he is too heavily influenced by the last person to talk to him before he makes a big decision – but that as soon as he makes that decision, he hates to be challenged. That has sometimes ensured that critics accuse him of stubbornness.

In 2020 the 6-foot-6-inch Mr. Merz An interview In which he was asked about the perception he was arrogant. “My height alone is of course a potential target for such prejudices,” he said. “Physically I look down on many people, so it’s just a small step to” look down on them. “

A former business lawyer with considerable wealth, Mr. Merz has promised a more conservative course in both the country and the party he inherited from Angela Merkel, who left the chancellery three and a half years ago.

That partly reflects its background in the Sauerland region of the rich west of Germany, a region that defines its politics and persona. During his campaign, Mr. Merz ran on the slogan “Meer Sauerland for Germany”, where the image of the region was called up as a heart of the country.

Every two years he lives a ritual when dating from the medieval times in the picturesque city of Brilon, where he was born and raised, in which local men walk along the borders of the city before gathering for a party in the fields.

“This is what distinguishes him: he is always closely connected to his home country and knows where he comes from,” said Niklas Frigger, the deputy mayor of Brilon, who comes from Mr. Merz’s party.

Mr. Merz also comes to the city every few weeks, usually on a Sunday, to drink coffee with his parents, who, on 97 and 101, recently moved to a senior house, residents say. His wife, Charlotte Merz, is the most important judge of a local court in the Sauerland city of Arnsberg, where they live, and they have three adult children.

The new Chancellor, who talked about being wild as a youth before he turned things and went to university, started his political career in 1989 in the then European Parliament. He soon moved to Berlin, where he quickly climbed the ranks of the Christian Democrats, he noticed for his leadership and speaking qualities.

In the early 2000s, after losing a power struggle to Mrs. Merkel, Mr. Merz turned away from politics and started a career in corporate law, and advised clients who wanted to establish their companies in Germany. Mr. Merz served on several boards, including those of the American investment firm BlackRock, before he returned to politics after Mrs Merkel had announced her retirement.

During his election campaign, Mr. Merz tried to make a desire for a time when the German economy flourished, the infrastructure was new and the bureaucracy worked.

But challenges that are mounted for him and attracted much of his attention.

Despite the fact that she was the first to end in the February elections, Mr. Merz’s options were limited because the party had performed poorly. He had only one plausible coalition partner, the social -democrats, who had led the extremely unpopular previous government and had registered a record low for their party in February.

To guarantee their voice for military editions and more, Mr. Merz handed over an unusually large number of cabinet positions to his junior partner. He softened his plans for immigration, including his promise to reject asylum seekers on the border.

Mr. Merz has expressed the hope of forging a positive relationship with Mr Trump, but allies say that he has increasingly become disappointed by a series of actions by the US government. They include vows to withdraw American troops in Europe and a speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munich, in which he attacked Europeans on “freedom of expression” and warned them to stop sideways such as the Department.

Mr. Merz was also amazed by the clothing that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance Volodymyr Zensky, the Ukrainian president and a fellow ally, gave office in the Oval Office. “In my opinion this was not a spontaneous response to Zensky’s statements, but rather a deliberate escalation of tensions during the meeting in the Oval Office,” Mr. Merz said at the time.

Mr. Merz has pushed back more and more against the Trump government and warns Germans that they must take responsibility for their own safety. “Do you seriously believe that an American government agrees to continue NATO as before?” He asked legislators in March.

Even many of those who have criticized Mr. Merz’s leadership style have approved his position against the United States.

“I believe he really understands how the worldwide situation has changed and what changes in the US,” said Mr. Polenz, the former secretary -general of Mr Merz’s party. “He is an avid supporter of transatlantic relations and will certainly try to maintain and stabilize all relationships between Germany, Europe and the US as well as possible. But he has no illusions about the difficulty of the task that lies for us.”

Tatiana Firsova Berlin reported contributed.