Merz Flexes German Power, Putting Von Der Leyen on the Defensive

Friedrich Merz wants to see Germany driving the most important decisions in Europe again.

That’s what the country’s chancellor has been telling his fellow center-right leaders at recent gatherings, according to a diplomat present for the remarks. The implication, the diplomat added, is blunt: Merz is taking control.

It’s putting him on a collision course with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union’s top executive.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting in Brussels in May.

Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

Von der Leyen has consolidated power in the European Commission in recent years, pursuing a more Brussels-centric approach to the continent’s perpetual crises. Yet Merz is now trying to tug power back to Berlin, ...