German election latest: Conservative leaders celebrate as far-right ...

Jess ParkerBerlin correspondent

Friedrich Merz - leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - is set to become Germany's next Chancellor.

Described by his supporters as an antidote to Europe's crisis of confidence, Merz, 69, is a familiar face to his party's old guard.

Merz was born in the west German town of Brilon in 1955 into a prominent conservative, Catholic family. His father served as a local judge, as does Friedrich Merz's wife Charlotte to this day.

The younger Merz joined the CDU while still at school.

In an interview 25 years ago with German newspaper Tagesspiegel he laid claim to a wilder youth than his strait-laced CV might suggest.

After school, he went on to military service before studying law and marrying fellow student Charlotte Gass in 1981.

For a few years, Merz worked as a lawyer but he always had his eye on politics and was elected to the European Parliament in 1989, aged 33. He rose through the ranks, touted as a talent on the party's more right-wing, traditionalist faction.

Merz eventually left politics in 2009, several years after rival Angela Merkel won the CDU party's leadership. He made three attempts to lead his party - his first two failures were in 2018 and January 2021.