What is Friedrich Merz?
{{Infobox officeholder | name = Friedrich Merz | honorific-suffix = [[Member of the German Bundestag|MdB]] | image = 2025-02-23 Bundestagswahl – Wahlabend CDU by Sandro Halank–025.jpg | caption = Merz in 2025 | office = [[Chancellor of Germany]] | status = [[Designation (law)|Designate]] | president = [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]] | 1blankname = {{nowrap|[[Vice-Chancellor of Germany|Vice-Chancellor]]}} | 1namedata = ''TBD'' | term_start = TBD | term_end = | succeeding = [[Olaf Scholz]] <!--| predecessor = [[Olaf Scholz]]--> | successor = | office1 = [[Leader of the Christian Democratic Union]] | deputy1 = [[Silvia Breher]]<br />[[Andreas Jung]]<br />[[Michael Kretschmer]]<br />[[Karl-Josef Laumann]]<br />[[Karin Prien]] | term_start1 = 31 January 2022 | term_end1 = | predecessor1 = [[Armin Laschet]] | successor1 = | office3 = [[Leader of the Opposition (Germany)|Leader of the Opposition]] | chancellor3 = Olaf Scholz | term_start3 = 15 February 2022 | term_end3 = <!--''TBD--> | predecessor3 = [[Ralph Brinkhaus]] | successor3 = <!--''TBD--> | chancellor4 = [[Gerhard Schröder]] | term_start4 = 29 February 2000 | term_end4 = 22 September 2002 | predecessor4 = [[Wolfgang Schäuble]] | successor4 = [[Angela Merkel]] | office5 = [[CDU/CSU|Leader of the CDU/CSU]] [[Bundestag|in the Bundestag]] | 1blankname6 = {{nowrap|[[Whip (politics)|Chief Whip]]}} | 1namedata6 = [[Thorsten Frei]] | 1blankname5 = First Deputy | 1namedata5 = [[Alexander Dobrindt]] | term_start5 = 15 February 2022 | term_end5 = | predecessor6 = Ralph Brinkhaus | successor6 = | 1blankname8 = {{nowrap|Chief Whip}} | 1namedata8 = Hans-Peter Repnik | 1blankname7