Friedrich Merz in the context of "Chancellor of Germany"

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (German: Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands [ˈkʁɪstlɪç demoˈkʁaːtɪʃə ʔuˈni̯oːn ˈdɔʏtʃlants], CDU [ˌtseːdeːˈʔuː] ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 January 2022, and has served as the Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025.

The CDU is the largest party in the Bundestag, the German federal legislature, with 208 out of 630 seats, having won 28.5% of votes in the 2025 federal election. It forms the CDU/CSU Bundestag faction, also known as the Union, with its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). The group's parliamentary leader has been Jens Spahn since 5 May 2025.

The Federal Chancellery (German: Bundeskanzleramt, pronounced [bʊndəsˈkant͡slɐˌʔamt] ) is a German federal agency serving the executive office of the chancellor of Germany, the head of the federal government, currently Friedrich Merz. The Chancellery's primary function is to assist the chancellor in coordinating the activities of the federal government. The head of the Chancellery (Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes) holds the rank of either a Secretary of State (Staatssekretär) or a Federal Minister (Bundesminister), currently held by Thorsten Frei. The headquarters of the German Chancellery is at the Federal Chancellery building in Berlin, which is the largest government headquarters in the world.

Bärbel Bas (German: [ˈbɛʁbl̩ ˈbaːs]; born 3 May 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. Also since 2025, she has been serving as one of two co-leaders of her party, alongside Lars Klingbeil.

Bas has been a member of the German Bundestag since the federal election in 2009. She served as the 14th president of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025. She also served as the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich from 2019 to 2021.

The Merz cabinet (German: Kabinett Merz, pronounced [kabiˈnɛt ˈmɛʁts]) is the 25th and current Government of the Federal Republic of Germany during the 21st legislative session of the Bundestag. It succeeded the previous cabinet led by Olaf Scholz. The cabinet is led by Friedrich Merz.

The cabinet is composed of Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister-party Christian Social Union (CSU) (which form the CDU/CSU alliance; the so called Union) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). It is the fifth time a governing coalition between Union and SPD has been formed in post-war German history and the first since the Fourth Merkel cabinet led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2018.

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (Vorsitzender der Christlich Demokratischen Union) is the most senior political figure within the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Since 31 January 2022, the office has been held by Friedrich Merz, who succeeded Armin Laschet.

The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party is supported by a General Secretary who, since 12 July 2023, has been Carsten Linnemann.