Among the high-profile guests at the CDU party congress for the first time in years will be his predecessor and long-time party rival Angela Merkel.
Merz, 70, has made it his mission to steer their Christian Democratic Union back to its conservative roots and undo the more liberal legacy of Merkel, especially her welcome to more than a million migrants a decade ago.
But the party congress comes as Merz faces pressure over a limping economy, poor personal approval ratings and the sustained threat of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of several regional elections.
A barometer of the party's mood at the national congress in the southern city of Stuttgart will be whether Merz gets re-elected as party chief with the customary result in the 90 percent range, or less.
Merz, after his party's February 2025 election win, took office last May at the helm of a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) of ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz.
At the time, Merz boldly vowed to revitalise the stagnating economy, limit irregular migration, rearm Germany to deter Russia, and strengthen Germany's role in the world.
On the global stage, Merz has indeed made a splash, taking a lead role on supporting Ukraine, stepping up NATO defence spending and maintaining dialogue with volatile US President Donald Trump.
But on the home front, the score card has been more mixed as his plans for boosting Europe's biggest economy were slowed by Trump's tariff blitz and other hurdles.
With GDP growth forecast at a meagre one per cent this year, the captains of Germany Inc have harshly attacked the leader of Germany's pro-business party.
Rainer Dulger, head of business group BDA, called on Merz this week to present "a genuine reform programme" with tax and social welfare cuts and by slashing back bureaucracy.
READ ALSO: 'German economy will not take off in 2026,' says chamber of commerce
'Struggle with likeability'
Merz has faced headwinds from surveys that have often given the AfD a lead over the CDU/CSU coalition of his party and its Bavarian sister the Christian Social Union.
Another poll shocker came this week when Merz was deemed less popular than Scholz -- whose bland leadership style Merz had mercilessly mocked in opposition -- in an INSA survey for Bild daily.
Many in the CDU are also upset for a host of other reasons -- although most may swallow their discontent in a party that traditionally values discipline over ideological debates.
Merz, a longtime proponent of fiscal discipline, broke a campaign promise of no new debt before even taking office, to finance a spending splurge on defence and infrastructure.
Amid fears this will burden future generations, the CDU youth wing has also been up in arms about a creaking state pensions system in fast-greying Germany that they fear they'll have to pay for in future.
Conservative forces within the CDU meanwhile decry that Merz has made too many concessions to the SPD, Germany's traditional workers party.
Many Germans "had hoped for much faster change," political scientist Marc Debus of Mannheim University told AFP. "Huge projects were not addressed quickly enough last year."
Merz has also turned off many voters with often blunt comments, recently questioning whether Germans, with their many sick days, still deserve their reputation as hard workers.
"We cannot maintain prosperity with a four-day week and work-life balance," he has told them.
Uwe Jun of Trier University told AFP that Merz -- a millionaire hobby pilot -- "still struggles when it comes to public likability."
Hoping to keep the AfD at bay, Merz has steadily hardened his rhetoric on immigration, tightening borders and ending accelerated naturalisation after three years.
This poses a dilemma for Merz, said Benjamin Hoehne of Chemnitz University: "A more right-wing CDU could drive away centrist voters without attracting AfD voters."
READ ALSO: The CDU's rightward shift on immigration is costing the party votes
Merz appeared undaunted when talking about his future this week. "I intend to continue doing this for quite some time," he said, pointing out that his father just turned 102.
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