Merz should release a position of considerable influence – Germany

Martin Lück is a sought-after interlocutor in Frankfurt with regard to the situation on the financial markets. Luck knows how to manage. He is the chief strategist of Blackrock for Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Blackrock is the largest badet manager in the world. On a global scale, Americans have a whopping $ 6.4 billion from customers in 100 countries.

In Germany, Blackrock joins the 30 listed companies whose shares are listed in the German stock index Dax. Blackrock owns 7% of Bayer's shares, or 5.8% of Siemens. Blackrock is the largest shareholder. The US company holds 5.9% of SAP and 5% of Deutsche Bank and Daimler. In total, Blackrock should be involved in German companies with a high amount in billions of dollars. This guarantees the influence – this also applies to the head of the supervisory board, Friedrich Merz. If Merz were to be elected to the presidency of the CDU party, he would have to leave his post in Blackrock, which he has been wearing since 2016. Blackrock's wire stripping is hard to replace.

The company's officials are working hard to downplay Blackrock's influence. Act as a fund company to serve only its clients, act as a trustee and do not invest their own money. Formally, this may be the case: insurance companies, pension funds, companies, sovereign wealth funds, banks and even churches depend on Blackrock's services, but also on private investors. The majority of the money is used for old age, they say.

Blackrock does not deny the notable influence. Representatives of the badet manager do not speak at general meetings, they do not sit on supervisory boards. In direct discussions with the board of directors and the supervisory board of the company, they specify their positions. Critics are amazed that Blackrock also took on advisory mandates from the European Central Bank (ECB) during the Greek crisis. Bank supervisor Blackrock also participated in the stress test as a consultant. Blackrock therefore has an influence on the regulation of the financial sector.

Merz resists criticism of his activities. He condemned the tax schemes to the detriment of the Treasury, which in particular exploited the HSBC bank, whose supervisory board belongs to Merz. "Stock trades like Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum ultimately serve to exonerate taxpayers," Merz told Süddeutsche Zeitung. These transactions are "totally immoral", regardless of the legal qualification. "I have always believed in this opinion and have always expressed it." In the case of cumulated operations, the reshuffling of the shares had deceived the tax offices at the EU level. In Germany alone, the state should have paid back 32 billion euros in unpaid taxes.

The anti-corruption organization Transparency Germany had previously criticized Merz. Merz will have to explain to the members of the CDU what his role was, "such as the supervisory board of private bank HSBC Germany, involved in ex-commercial activities," said Edda Müller, president of Transparency. "He has to show how he wants to use these experiences for a policy oriented towards well-being."