Chancellor for 'longer time': Merz seeks second term - Friedrich Merz seeks second term as Germany's chancellor in 2029 election
Friedrich Merz is Germany's oldest chancellor since Konrad Adenauer—but he has no plans to step down. Speaking at the traditional Politischer Aschermittwoch event, he pointed to his father's age as proof of his own staying power.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is seeking a second term after the 2029 federal election. "I still intend to do this for quite some time," the 70-year-old said in Trier, noting that his father turned 102 in January.
Addressing Gordon Schnieder, the CDU's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate's state election on March 22, Merz added: "When we stand here again in, say, five years, I want us both—you as minister-president, me as chancellor—to look back and say: 'Those were tough times, but we made the right decisions in the CDU, in the federal government, and in the state government under Gordon Schnieder's leadership.'"
Merz, who turned 70 on November 11, is the oldest chancellor since Adenauer, who left office in 1963 at the age of 87. On Friday, he will seek a third term as CDU party leader at the party conference.
CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann recently praised Merz's potential for a long political career. "As he's said himself: His father is over 100, his mother just under," Linnemann told Stern magazine. "He's got the genes to stay in politics for a very long time."
However, Linnemann considers debate over another chancellorship premature. When asked about the possibility, he replied: "I assume so, but that's not a question for 2026."
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