Giant fir from Merz's native Sauerland placed by Chancellery

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday welcomed a 13-metre-tall fir tree for display during the holiday season in front of his offices in Berlin, decorated with 4,320 lights and hailing from his Sauerland home region in the west of the country.

"The time is coming when we slowly get into the Christmas spirit together," said Merz, who admitted, despite the already wintry weather, "It's still a little difficult."

The fir comes from a forest in Plettenberg in the Märkisches Sauerland region, a popular tourist destination due to its hills and forests.

The tree stood at the side of a path for 45 years and had plenty of space to grow, the forest owner Eberhard Freiherr von Wrede said.

"As a family, we always had it in mind that this tree would make a good chancellor's fir tree," he told dpa.

The Working Group of German Forest Owners' Associations donates a large Christmas tree to the Chancellery every year – always from a different federal state.

Merz said he especially enjoys the presence of one from his homeland, "because it reminds [him] a little of [his] own Christmas season as a child, of course."

He planned to visit the region at the weekend and take a walk in the Arnsberg Forest, he said.