Conservative politician Friedrich Merz, of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is pledging to be the leader who will transform his party and lead the country on a national identity and traditional values platform.

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For Merz, the party did not need current Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “revolution”, it needed “change and renewal,” and a return to “national identity and traditional values must have a firm place in our thinking and actions.”

Social conservatives, like Merz, express that Merkel brought the CDU too far to the left during her 18 years of leadership. Merkel, who declared she is stepping aside from the helm of the party and will not run in the 2021 federal elections, has had several fundamental disagreements with Merz.

But, Merz has now declared that a cooperative relationship can be forged with the outgoing Chancellor.

According to a Spiegel Online poll, Merz is favored by 34 percent of voters to succeed as the CDU party leader, ahead of Merkel’s chosen heir, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who holds 19 percent. A second poll, conducted by Handelsblatt Daily, gives Merz a narrow 21 percent lead over Kramp-Arrenbaur's 18 percent.

“In coming back in from the cold now as a principled ‘outsider’ who hasn’t much changed, Merz will be able to cater for the needs of the base much more authentically than his competitors,” Paul-Jasper Dittrich, of the Jacques Delors Institute in Berlin, remarked.

In context, Merz abandoned politics in 2009 and turned to corporate law, and is now coming back to politics with a lot of momentum. During that time, he was appointed head of the supervisory board of Black Rock, one the largest asset managers worldwide.

Merz has been labeled as an “economically liberal and socially conservative” and is known for provoking heated national debates by claiming that immigrants should conform to the German national culture, while contradicting liberal values and being accused of racism.

The ascent of 'outsider candidate' Merz comes at a time when Germany, as well as parts of Europe and the United States, is undergoing a push towards conservatism as a dominant force in politics. The situation is becoming dire in the Federal Republic, as far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which obtained a whopping 12.6 percent of the vote in the 2017 federal election— is stirring up ethnic tensions by stoking the fire produced by isolated events such as the stabbing of a German citizen allegedly committed by a migrant.

Merkel has been blamed for jeopardizing national security and meddling with national cultural by inviting in asylum-seekers, who are none other than refugees fleeing from conflict and poverty situations in their home countries in search for better opportunities and a dignified life in countries like Germany which have been willing to take them.