DON GONYEA, HOST:
Germans head to the polls on Sunday in a national election that will likely mean a change of power at the top of the government. The front-runner to become the country's next chancellor is a conservative politician with a business background, and he wants to restore Germany's status as a European powerhouse, both economically and militarily. NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz reports.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: One of the first German politicians to respond to the Trump administration's unilateral approach to ending Russia's war in Ukraine was this man.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRIEDRICH MERZ: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: Friedrich Merz staunchly stood up for Europe and said he has no illusions about Russia. Merz will likely become Germany's next chancellor.
NORBERT ROTTGEN: He has always been a - I would say a conviction politician.
SCHMITZ: Norbert Rottgen has known Merz for more than 30 years. The two politicians for the center-right Christian Democratic Union party entered parliament together. Rottgen says most German politicians specialize in compromise and the art of making policy.
ROTTGEN: Whereas he - his fundamental access to politics is the realm to realize what I believe in.
SCHMITZ: Rottgen says the 69-year-old Merz, who hails from a conservative family line of lawyers and who spent a stint as a management consultant, believes, above all, in decency.
ROTTGEN: Societally conservative traditional values, then a strong free market conviction - and then he is a fundamental pro-European and trans-Atlanticist.
SCHMITZ: And that will be crucial as Germany navigates an increasingly thorny relationship with the Trump administration bent on ending Russia's war in Ukraine as quickly as possible, so far without inviting Europe or Ukraine to the table.
JANA PUGLIERIN: I think the Europeans have not really found a collective way forward. You have all sorts of ideas that are contradicting each other.
SCHMITZ: Jana Puglierin, director of the Berlin Office at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says the outgoing administration of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not helped build a cohesive way forward for Europe on Ukraine.
PUGLIERIN: I think Friedrich Merz, by disposition, would be more open to also support Ukraine more decisively. But he has to work in a framework. He will be constrained by his coalition partner and also by the German population.
SCHMITZ: Because Merz's party is polling at 30%, he will be leading talks with one or two other parties to form a coalition government. It could be summer before Friedrich Merz has the opportunity to put his mark on Germany. Hints of how he will lead, though, have trickled out in recent weeks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MERZ: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: Earlier this month. Merz got into trouble with his own party when he agreed to work with the far-right AfD party to pass a motion that would have toughened up Germany's immigration policy. The motion failed after significant backlash against Merz for breaking a longtime taboo in German politics, agreeing to work with a party seen by mainstream political parties as a threat to Germany's democracy.
UTE WOLTERS: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: On the streets of Berlin, voter Ute Wolters says she hopes Merz does not break a promise he made to refuse to govern with the AfD, which is polling in second place behind Merz's party. Wolters says she thinks Merz is flirting with populism, and she says, populism is the last thing Germany needs right now. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
