"The future lies in the business becoming specialized and managing without the help of the parent company," Merz was cited as saying by the weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
A supervisory board meeting on March 31 will discuss the issue, which faces resistance from some employees.
Duisburg-headquartered ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe is the biggest steel company in Germany, with some 26,000 employees.
(Reporting by Tom Käckenhoff; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Mike Harrison)