Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, increasingly pitches himself as a pragmatist akin to Angela Merkel. But his mantra of stable leadership has its limits, with the far right on the rise and Germany beset by dismal economic prospects.

Much of Merz’s public reputation, particularly on the broad liberal and left-wing space, stems from this time out of the political spotlight. In particular, his role as chairman of the German division of BlackRock, the American asset management behemoth, is seen with a critical eye by most Germans. His close personal ties to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, as reported in a recent biography by Volker Resing, only add to the perception that Merz represents the financial elite more than the electorate.

Still, his advocates seek to reframe this association not as a liability but as a strength. His corporate entanglements are portrayed as proof of worldly competence, a business-minded sensibility absent from the typical career politician. “Through his many board positions,” write Jutta Falke-Ischinger and Daniel Goffart in their biography of Merz, “he gained a deep and novel insight into the economy.” Between 2007 and 2018, Merz served on at least nineteen corporate boards, from Commerzbank to BASF and the recycling giant Interseroh. Just as he was plotting his political comeback, his connections earned him millions and embedded him within Europe’s financial elite.

His proponents have tried to downplay the potential for conflicts of interest. Resing cites a corporate attorney familiar with Merz’s legal work who insists that “the substantive work was always done by others.” Merz, the implication goes, was more of a figurehead than an operative.

      • geissi@feddit.orgEnglish
        10·
        10 days ago

        It is somewhat misleading but not false. He did vote against it as the linked article also points out.

        English tl:dr for those interested: He did vote for an earlier proposal that would have made marital rape illegal but allowed potential victims to block an investigation.
        Critics feared that abusive spouses could force their victims to block investigations.
        That proposal ultimately failed, a new version without “veto” was proposed, Merz voted against but it ultimately passed.

        • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          8 days ago

          In addition to that martial rape could be, and was, prosecuted as coercion and bodily injury. Corporal punishment of spouses (which would be a way around that) was legalised in Prussia in 1794, then outlawed again in 1812, in Bavaria the span was from 1756 to 1900 (introduction of the BGB).

          Still takes a very special kind of conservative to object to categorising it as rape, and that’s the exact type of conservative Merz is.

          The exact same reform btw also made the law gender-neutral. “Rape” doesn’t exist as a thing in itself in German law, in a sense, it’s a name given to a specific aggravation of sexual assault:

          (6) In especially serious cases, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of at least two years. An especially serious case typically occurs where

          1. the offender has sexual intercourse with the victim or has the victim have sexual intercourse or commits such similar sexual acts on the victim or has the victim commit them on them which are particularly degrading for the victim, especially if they involve penetration of the body (rape), or

          2. the offence is committed jointly by more than one person.

      • Don_alForno@feddit.orgEnglish
        43·
        10 days ago

        Oh, yeah, he voted for the earlier version in which an abusive husband could beat up his wife until she retracted her accusations. That totally absolves him. Not.