Germany's Chancellor-designate is working like a US president to end the country's migration crisis

“This country must be able to live in freedom and security again,” Merz thundered after the attack in Solingen, in which three people died, and promised to put an end to the “nightmare” of migrant crime in Germany.

The CDU leader called on Germany to change its border protection policy: instead of just carrying out additional controls, there must be a “comprehensive” rejection of illegal migrants.

When this promise could not be kept at a crucial meeting with German ministers on Tuesday, he simply walked out of the meeting and branded the government “incompetent and leaderless”.

This is a remarkable change of tone for a leader of the CDU, the centre-right party formerly led by Angela Merkel, which opened Germany's borders in the midst of the refugee crisis in 2016 with the slogan “We can do it”.

Merz, 68, was born in the western German town of Brilon – another contrast to Merkel, who was deeply influenced by her childhood experiences in the communist GDR.

A pro-business and socially conservative politician, he lost a power struggle with Mrs Merkel two decades ago, which in turn led to the legal profession and the corporate world taking a break from politics.

But when Mrs Merkel resigned in 2018, he returned to the CDU as chairman and pushed the party in a much more populist direction. He coined the term “Leitkultur” in Germany.

CDU insiders describe him as a tough, strict leader who imported American leadership methods into the party from his time at BlackRock. Rumor has it that he was once a member of the Andean Pact, a secret men's society for aspiring CDU stars.

“When he walks into the room, everyone gets quiet, like when the teacher comes in,” a source said. “And he can be really hard on people, to the point of being rude.”

According to insiders, as soon as he began his role as chairman, he quickly had enough of the long CDU sessions in the Bundestag, which usually start at 3 p.m. and can last until 9 p.m.

Now they are interrupted at 5 p.m., which annoys colleagues who like to give long, rambling speeches; some have the impression that their boss is more impatient than efficient.

According to one source, Mr Merz insists on taking his staff out for a beer after a hard day and paying the bill. Unlike Mrs Merkel, who is known to the world as “Mutti”, he has no nickname and is simply “Mr Merz” to his staff.

Mr Merz's foreign policy is broadly supportive of Ukraine. His party is exerting pressure – albeit unsuccessfully – on Mr Scholz to supply Kyiv with powerful Taurus long-range missiles.

“He seems to me to be a rather opportunistic politician who uses every opportunity to get one over on the Scholz government,” said Minna Alander, an expert on German politics and European security. “At the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion [his focus was] Ukraine – he demonstratively spoke to Scholz in Kyiv – now it’s about migration.

“However, I don't think he really cares about Ukraine,” she added, alluding to his infamous September 2022 comment that Ukrainian refugees were engaging in “welfare tourism.” He later apologized for the remark.

However, there is a major obstacle standing in his way on his way to the Chancellery: the right-wing extremist AfD is enjoying growing popularity in Germany; the party came first in the state elections in Thuringia in September.

The CDU is in danger of losing masses of voters to the AfD, mainly because of its aggressive rhetoric on radical Islamism and migration, as well as its aversion to German military support for Ukraine, which it fears could drag the country into a global conflict.

“Merz's big promise to the CDU was to push through a more conservative party profile. Now the migration issue seems to have become the topic he wants to be associated with,” says Benjamin Höhne, a German political scientist at Chemnitz University of Technology.

“However, it remains to be seen whether this will help the CDU achieve better election results or whether the right-wing populist AfD will benefit from it, as this is one of its core issues,” he added.

Earlier this month, Merz moved even closer to AfD rhetoric on migration. He claimed that migrants were responsible for the “nightmare” of gang rapes and accused young migrants of a “complete lack of respect” for women.

Many in his party expect Mr Merz to become a much closer friend of Ukraine than Mr Scholz if the CDU wins the next federal elections at the end of 2025.

“On the most important issue of our time, namely the restoration of peace and security in Europe, Friedrich Merz, unlike Olaf Scholz, is listening,” said Norbert Röttgen, a senior CDU MP and leading Ukraine supporter in the party.

“Merz is aware that Russia will only negotiate when Ukraine has gained the military upper hand and there is no longer any way for [Vladimir] Putin is trying to achieve his goals militarily. Scholz, on the other hand, believes that he knows everything best,” he added.

“Friedrich Merz [has] “It has made clear how important a victory for Ukraine is for the European security architecture,” said Roderich Kiesewetter, CDU spokesman for crisis prevention and one of the party's more warmongering voices on the Russia issue.

In an apparent attempt to regain control of the migration debate, Scholz's interior minister announced this week that Germany would introduce nationwide border controls for six months starting Monday.

Critics pointed out that Germany already has such checks on four of its eastern borders, including Poland and Austria. Whether the new measures will have a major impact remains to be seen, and for Mr Merz, they clearly do not go far enough.

But CDU allies hope that his energetic, brash style will make him much more attractive to voters in 2025 than Mr Scholz, who is seen as slow and staid in comparison.

“He doesn't want to waste time. He's always in a rush,” a source said. “He's focused on getting things done.”