Friedrich Merz Net Worth in 2023 Career & Relationship

Estimated value:	€11 million
Age:	66
Born:	11/11/1955
Country of origin:	Germany
Source of Wealth:	Politician
Last updated:	2021

Short introduction

Joachim Friedrich Merz was born on November 11, 1955 in Brilon, Germany and is a lawyer, lobbyist and politician of the CDU. From 1989 to 1994, Friedrich Merz was a member of the European Parliament. From 1994 to 2009 he was also a member of the German Bundestag. Friedrich Merz was chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2000 to 2002 and therefore leader of the opposition. Today, Friedrich Merz works on the board of Blackrock, which sells financial products.

early life

Friedrich Merz is the eldest of four children and comes from a conservative family of Brilon lawyers. Joachim Merz, his father, worked as a district court councilor in Brilon and was not only a judge at the Arnsberg district court, but also a member of the CDU until 2007. His father became known above all through several large Nazi trials, which he led as a judge. His mother’s family descends from French Huguenots and is one of the oldest patrician families in Brilon. Friedrich Merz went to the Petrinum Gymnasium in Brilon from 1966 to 1971, then he changed schools and went to the Friedrich-Spee-Gymnasium in Rüthen. In 1975 he obtained the general higher education entrance qualification. He was then able to study law at the University of Bonn and the University of Marburg from 1976 to 1982 with a scholarship from the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. He completed his studies in 1982 with the first state examination in law. From 1982 to 1985 he completed the necessary legal clerkship at the district court of Saarbrücken and at other locations. After the second state examination in law, Friedrich Merz was a probationary judge at the district court of Saarbrücken from 1985 to 1986. From 1986 to 1989, Friedrich Merz also worked as a general counsel at the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) in Bonn and in Frankfurt am Main.

Career

Friedrich Merz recognized his interest in politics early on, which is why he joined the CDU in 1972 while still a student and was actively involved in the Junge Union in his hometown of Brilon in his free time. He was even its chairman until 1980. Friedrich Merz continued to be politically active, mainly working in parliament. When he stood in the European elections in 1989, Friedrich Merz was immediately elected to the European Parliament. He was a member of the European Parliament until 1994. From 1994 to 2009, Friedrich Merz worked as a member of the German Bundestag, where he also held the position of chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Finance Committee from 1996 to 1998. After the 1998 federal election, Friedrich Merz was appointed deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from October 1998 and successor to Wolfgang Schäuble as direct chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from February 2000. When the CDU party chair at the time, Angela Merkel, claimed the chair of the parliamentary group in 2002 immediately after the 2002 federal elections, Friedrich Merz was appointed deputy chair of the parliamentary group. Friedrich Merz resigned from this office in December 2004. For many years, Friedrich Merz was a directly elected representative of his constituency, Hochsauerlandkreis, through which he entered the Bundestag. In the 2005 general election, he had his best first-vote result to date, with 57.7%. Friedrich Merz declared in February 2007 that he would not run again in the 2009 federal elections due to differences within the party. After the formation of the 17th Bundestag in October 2009, Friedrich Merz left parliament as a direct result of his declaration and thus resigned from his political offices.

Career highlights

Friedrich Merz not only started a successful political career, but was and is also very active and successful professionally. Among other things, he was a lawyer at the Cologne law firm Cornelius Bartenbach Haesemann und Partner. In addition, after retiring as deputy parliamentary group leader of the CDU/CSU, he worked as a partner at the international law firm Mayer Brown LLP until 2014, where he has been senior counsel since then. Friedrich Merz was also extremely active in other areas of the economy, taking on numerous activities in various advisory and control functions. In 2010 Friedrich Merz was appointed to the board of directors of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, which is a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation). On June 8, 2010 he was elected to the supervisory board there. Also in 2010, Friedrich Merz was commissioned by the Soffin bank rescue fund to take care of the sale of WestLB to a private investor.

Famous quotes

If you want to drain a swamp, don’t ask the frogs.

Amazing Facts

Friedrich Merz has been married to his wife Charlotte Merz since 1981 and has been in a relationship for many years.

Estimated value:	€11 million