Twenty years ago, before Friedrich Merz returned from the private sector to win the German Chancellor, he accepted an invitation to the French Foreign Legion in Corsica. At the last minute, the organizer asked him to parade on the ground, rather than by road or rail, but by parachute.
Mr. Meiers, the company's attorney, never jumped out of the plane. But another participant recently recalled that Mr. Meles did not hesitate. He successfully jumped up, but landed with some difficulty.
Mr. Melz, 69, is trying to make a more volatile leap with similar stumbling block risks.
On Tuesday, Meers, who has no experience in government execution, will become Germany's tenth principal. He will take office at the most challenging moments since East and West Germany were reunified 35 years ago.
The new prime minister and his coalition administration, led by his Central Christian Democrats, will be trapped in a series of national crises, including a stagnant economy and wear-off relations with the United States.
A rising nationalist party, a German anti-immigration alternative, has just been classified as extremist and has surpassed Mr. Meers and his mainstream political counterparts in some polls.
Mr. Meers has been aggressive in addressing these challenges in the months since his party won the election in February.
He criticized President Trump and questioned the stability of American democracy, as he squeezed into foreign peers to lead the newly muscular Europe. He quickly broke his important campaign commitment to fiscal constraints and reached an agreement with his center-left rivals to relax Germany's holiness restrictions on government lending in order to use “anything” on defense.
Although he joined the AFD shortly before the election to pass new immigration restrictions, he vowed to avoid them in parliament again. He also reversed his promise to refuse asylum seekers.
Supporters of Mr. Meers said the moves were a sign of an agile politician and had the potential to address major issues concerning the German public: growth, defense, immigration.
George HW Bush's associate attorney, Mr. John P. Schmitz helped hire Mr. Melz to work in the German office of Chicago law firm Mayer Brown, and jumped out of the Corsica plane with Mr. Merz around 2005.
But others think Mr. Meiers struggled to plan the above steps, which led him to a promise. They said it had fallen into his popularity.
His size in spending and immigration alienated many of his basic conservative voters. Mr. Meers and his party have been sagging in polls since the election, and even in some surveys, the AFD has attracted them with them. He starts with the minimum approval rating of any modern German leader.
Ruprecht Polenz, former secretary general of the Meltz Party, said: “There is an old saying: ‘Whatever you do, act wisely and consider the ending.’ He added: “This idea is not his main force. ”
Mr. Schmitz refuted such criticism, saying that Meers' flexibility was a hallmark of his leadership.
In the capital, Mr. Meles is known for his new ideas of charm and enthusiasm. Friends sometimes complain that he had too much influence on the last person to talk to before he made a big decision – but once he made a decision, he hated being challenged. This sometimes leads critics to accuse him of being stubborn.
In 2020, Mr. Melz conducted an interview in 2020 and was asked about his arrogant opinion. “Of course, my height alone is the potential target of this bias,” he said. “Physically, I look down on many people, so it's just a small step to look down at them.”
Mr. Meers, a former corporate lawyer with a huge fortune, has promised to carry on a more conservative course in the country and Angela Merkel, who left the Prime Minister three and a half years ago.
This partly reflects his background in the Sauerland region of the wealthy German west, which defines his politics and role. During the campaign, Mr. Melz ran to “More Race Mountains”, evoking the region’s image as the heart of the country.
His biennial history of attending the ceremony, which dates back to the picturesque town of Brilon, where he was born and raised, and locals walked along the borders of the town and then gathered in the fields.
“That’s what makes him different: He has always maintained close ties to his homeland and knows where he comes from,” said Brillen Mayor Niklas Frigger, Mr. Meers’ party.
Residents said Mr. Melz also came and went to town every few weeks, usually Sunday, to have coffee with his parents, who recently moved into the premium residence. His wife, Charlotte Merz, was the chief judge of the district court in Arnsberg, the small town of Sauerland where they live, and they have three adult children.
The new prime minister spoke about his youthful wildness before turning the situation around and going to college, and he began his political career in 1989 in the then-vibrant European Parliament. He quickly moved to Berlin, where he soon climbed the Christian Democratic Party, with his leadership and speaking qualities noting.
After losing power to Ms. Merkel in the early 2000s, Mr. Melz rejected politics and began a career in corporate law and advised clients who wanted to establish a business in Germany. After Ms. Merkel announced her retirement, Mr. Meiers served on multiple boards, including American investment firm Blackrock.
During his election campaign, Mr. Meers tried to take a thirst during a period of booming German economy, the infrastructure was new and the bureaucracy worked.
But it brought him a challenge and attracted a lot of attention.
Despite ranking No. 1 in the February general election, Mr. Meers’ choices are limited as the party’s poor performance. He had only one reasonable alliance partner, the Social Democrats, who led the former government's extremely unpopular government and recorded a record record for their party in February.
To get a vote on military spending, Mr. Meers handed over a large number of cabinet positions to his junior partner. He softened his plans for immigration, including his commitment to rejecting border asylum seekers.
Mr. Melz expressed hope to build a positive relationship with Mr. Trump, but allies said he became increasingly obsessed with a series of actions by the U.S. government. These included vows, withdrawal of U.S. troops from Europe, and speeches by Munich Vice President JD Vance, who attacked Europeans in “freedom of speech” and warned them to stop local parties like the AFD.
Mr. Meles was also defeated by Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and was shocked in the Oval Office. “I think this is not a spontaneous reaction to Zelensky's statement, but an intention to intentionally escalate tensions during the Oval Office meeting,” Melz said at the time.
Mr. Meiers is increasingly opposed to the Trump administration, warning Germans that they must be held accountable for their safety. “Do you seriously believe that the U.S. government will continue NATO as before?” he asked lawmakers in March.
Even many people who criticized Mr. Meiers' leadership style recognized his position on the United States.
“I believe he does understand the changes in the global situation and the changes in the United States are changing,” said former secretary-general of the Meltz Party. “He is a staunch supporter of transatlantic relations and will certainly do his best to maintain and stabilize all relations between Germany, Europe and the United States. But he has no illusions about the difficulties of the future mission.”
Tatiana Firstova Contributed reports from Berlin.
