Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Michaela Küfner
00:17 Friedrich Merz | German Chancellor | April 29, 2025 
00:50 File April 9, 2025
01:05 CDU Promotional Video
01:16 Friedrich Merz | German Chancellor | April 28, 2025
01:53 Friedrich Merz | German Chancellor | January 23, 2025
02:45 Friedrich Merz | German Chancellor | March 2, 2025

Script:

Friedrich Merz sees himself as the man who can fix Germany and Europe.
00'04"

The politician – turned top finance executive – turned politician again is known for his CEO take on politics.
0'12

Germany, he says, has to improve its performance on the world stage.
0'17"
+++ Friedrich Merz (CDU), German Chancellor,  Date Insert: 29.April 2025 +++
“I know that many of you expect more German leadership than we have seen in the last years.”
+++
0'26"

Germany – he vows - will no longer be out of the picture– like at the impromptu peace talks on Ukraine during the funeral for Pope Francis. 
0'38"
And Merz has a ready answer for an America threatening to turn its back on Europe:
0'41"
+++SOT Frage Michaela , 09. April 2025 +++
Question Michaela: "So from where you are standing right now, what is your message to Donald Trump?

+++ Friedrich Merz (CDU), German Chancellor  ONLY DATE INSERT:  9. April 2025 +++ 
„My message to Donald Trump is "Germany is back on track". Germany will fulfill the obligations in terms of defense and Germany is willing to strengthen their own competitiveness. And that is not just Germany. It is Europe. The EU and Germany will be again a very strong partner within the EU. And we will bring the EU forward."
+++
1'04" (01:04 - 01'15" CDU Germany Promo Video)

Just days ago, Merz doubled down on his resolve that Europe cannot afford to give in over Ukraine – a war he sees as a battle for democratic values:
1'15"
++++Friedrich Merz (CDU), German Chancellor Date Insert: 28.04.2025 ++++
„We are not party to this war and we do not want to become that. But neither are we unaffected bystanders or intermediaries. 
+++++
01'28"
Tying Germany’s fate even closer to embattled Ukraine could prove a tough sell at home.
The stakes are high – and Merz – who spent more than a decade in business -

1'42"
is beaming with confidence.
He says he can turn Germany’s flat economy around.
And promises a radical change on migration.
1'49"
+++Friedrich Merz (CDU), Chancellor Date Insert: 23.01.2025 +++ (Come late into SOT)
 "I will instruct the Federal Ministry of the Interior, using the Chancellor`s authority to issue directives, to permanently control all Germany`s national borders with its neighbors."
+++
2'11"
Whether he can deliver on any of these pledges will also depend on whether he is able to find 
2'15"
compromise with his coalition partner, the Social Democrat SPD party of the departing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
2'22"
Compromise is not the forte of the man who only recently clashed with 
2'26"
former Chancellor Angela Merkel over his decision to accept 
2'29"
votes from the far right AFD to pass a migration motion.
2'34"
Thousands took to the streets protesting Merz’s move. He found himself on the back foot – repeating his firewall pledge over and over again:
2'43"
+++ Friedrich Merz (CDU), Chancellor  3.2.2025 +++ 
"We will not co-operate with the party that calls itself the “Alternative for Germany."
+++
2'51"
Many in his own political camp feel the disappointing election result of 28,5% for the conservative CDU/CSU was caused by Merz’s flirt 
3'03"
with the far right AfD.
3'05"
While his maneuver remained unpopular, his determination to act on migration struck a chord. 
And it underlined how Friedrich Merz
03'13"
 is in many ways the opposite of Angela Merkel.
Their parallel rise to the top of the conservative CDU party in the 90ies and early 2000s turned into a political feud 
3'25"
when Merkel beat him to become parliamentary party leader.
03'30"
Frustrated - Merz left politics altogether,and made his fortune as a lawyer and board member for the American investment giant BlackRock.
A CV Merz sees as an asset 
3'44"
while his critics fault him for his lack of experience in government. 
3'46"
The incoming leader of Europe’s largest economy faces the enormous task of reigniting the German economy and stabilising Europe. 
3'55"
Huge expectations that will put Merz to the test, from Day 1.
4'01"