Friedrich Merz and the Emptiness of Leadership.
It hadn’t even been 100 days when the façade already began to crack. Friedrich Merz, once the great hope of a conservative Union longing for clarity and authority, now stands at the helm of government – and appears to be administering rather than leading. Not inspiring, but prescribing. Not shaping, but reacting.
What you get when you make a business manager chancellor is not a visionary statesman, but a man who mainly knows what he does not want: no debt, no “woke” debates, no compromises with the Greens, no soft words for complex realities. But what remains when rejection becomes the only position? A leadership based on symbolism rather than substance.
Merz likes to talk about order, control, discipline – terms that leave an impression in talk shows, but are insufficient for governing. His appearances as chancellor so far often seem technocratic, pale, at times authoritarian. He speaks, but says little. He acts, but rarely strategically. Crucial questions – about the future of pensions, the transformation of industry, or Germany’s role in the world – remain unanswered or are brushed aside with platitudes. What remains is the image of a man who defines himself more through his opponents than through his own ideas.
He does set accents, unfortunate, questionable ones – for instance in migration policy or in budget cut demands. But these are mostly signals for the far-right gallery, not well-thought-out concepts. Frustration is growing in the ministries over vague directives and an authoritarian style. Even in parts of the business world, his actual base, people increasingly wonder where this is headed. His style of governance seems outdated: presidential in tone, but lacking substance. Harsh in form, empty in content.
What gives him strength is his strategic sense for shifts in power – it's what brought him to the top of the CDU. He knows how to occupy political space, marginalize opponents, and make headlines. But that isn’t enough for a country that needs answers to epochal crises. The climate crisis, social polarization, global upheavals – Merz has opinions on many things, but rarely a vision.
His relationship with the media fluctuates between demonstrative arrogance and irritable defensiveness. Interviews regularly turn into confrontations, not clarifications. And when the press reports critically, he’s quick to speak of “campaigns” – a reflex more common at the political fringes than in the center.
Of course, Merz does have strengths. His rationality, his clear language, and his business competence offer some degree of stability in an age of overstimulation. For many, he is a light counterweight to the morally charged political style of recent years. But his great weakness remains: he sees politics as a ledger, not as a relationship. As enforcement, not as dialogue. As a system, not as a society.
And so his chancellorship begins with much form, but little spirit. With much control, but no direction. With a man who clearly wants to be chancellor – but doesn’t seem to know what he actually wants to accomplish as one. A chancellor who gives the impression that he sees the office primarily as a stage – but not as a place where history is made.
Perhaps Friedrich Merz will grow into the role over time. Perhaps he will learn how to govern. But for now, he appears to be a man who wants to lead the country – yet rarely seems to truly connect with it.
(Photo Ebrahim Noroozi)
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