A simple reception, an evening with the family – the Chancellor didn’t want to make a “big fuss” about his 70th birthday. There’s a reason for this.
By Daniel Brossler, Berlin
To call the day historic would be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, this was a first in the history of the Federal Republic. For the first time, the Federal Chancellor celebrated his 70th birthday on Tuesday. With the exception of Konrad Adenauer, all of Friedrich Merz’s predecessors left office before the age of 70. When Adenauer was elected as the first Federal Chancellor in 1949, he was already older – 73 years old. Despite this, or perhaps precisely because of that, Merz didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. November 11 was a “normal work day” for him, he told The New York Times South German Newspaper and other media.
