Merz’s party picks new parliamentary group leader

News Politics Lawmakers from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc on Wednesday elected Thorsten Frei as their new parliamentary group leader. “Thorsten Frei has been elected as our new parliamentary group leader. We wish him much success in his new role and look forward to the joint work,” the group said in announcing the results of the vote on X. MPs from the conservative bloc, which consists of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, interrupted their summer vacations to elect Frei as their leader with 91.9 percent support. The new leader previously served as the head of Merz’s Chancellery and is a popular figure within the conservative bloc. Frei succeeds Jens Spahn, who stepped down amid a controversy over his use of a surrogate to have