Friedrich Merz

We need to work harder

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German politician who has served as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025.

Quotes

• The overall productivity of our national economy is not high enough. To put it even more bluntly: Work-life balance and a four-day week will not be enough to maintain our country’s current level of prosperity in the future, which is why we need to work harder.
  • "Merz calls on Germans to work more — and draws a withering backlash", Politico (February 12, 2026)

• The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result.
  An entire nation [USA] is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible.
  • Merz quoted referring to 2026 Iran war in "Germany says US troop withdrawal 'foreseeable' as Trump warns of more 'cuts'", BBC News (May 2, 2026).