He’s the former corporate lawyer, who has a pilot's licence and loves music, but has never before been a government minister.
Friedrich Merz was born in the west German town of Brilon in 1955 into a prominent conservative, Catholic family. He joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) while still at school, before going on to study law.
Merz then worked as a lawyer and judge for a few years, but he always had his eye on politics.
He was elected to the European Parliament in 1989, and his journey to the top has been a winding one.
Sidelined by Angela Merkel before she became chancellor, he quit parliament entirely to pursue a lucrative series of corporate jobs and was written off as yesterday's man.
But with the CDU topping the ballot in Germany's elections earlier this year, he is now on the brink of clinching the job he has coveted for so long.
In a programme originally broadcast last month in the aftermath of Merz's election victory, when the prospect of a CDU coalition with the far-right AFD - now off the cards - was still a possibility, and Donald Trump's fiery meeting with President Zelensky was fresh in everyone's memory, Stephen Smith set out to find out how Merz bounced back.
Production Team Presenter: Stephen Smith Producers: Arlene Gregorius, Caroline Bayley, Chloe Scannapieco Editor: Ben Mundy Sound: Neil Churchill Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele, Janet Staples
Credits Audio of Friedrich Merz at the Munich Security Conference by Bayerischer Rundfunk Audio of swearing-in ceremony of Angela Merkel, 2005, by ZDF Audio of French President Macron at the White House courtesy of the White House
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