Known as "mini Merkel," Kramp-Karrenbauer would represent a vote for continuity in both policy and style.īut the conservative wing of the CDU is also expected to mount a challenge. But earlier this year, she appeared to have given her blessing to Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, the onetime leader of the west German state of Saarland and now the CDU's general secretary.
Merkel had long resisted grooming a successor, and she did not endorse a candidate on Monday. Merkel's announcement set off a flurry of speculation in the German media over who would follow her as chancellor. Just two weeks ago, the CDU's sister party, the Christian Social Union, sustained a similar erosion of support in its home state of Bavaria.
Merkel on Monday described the results as "bitter" and "disappointing." Although the party placed first and will continue to govern the state, the CDU's performance was its worst in more than half a century. On Sunday, the party suffered steep losses in elections in the state of Hesse, home to Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital, and long a bellwether for the nation.
Merkel said she made her decision over the summer, but recent events likely solidified the choice. "But that loyalty doesn't keep me from seeing the reality, and the reality is that her results are not as good as they used to be." "It will give us the opportunity to have a very natural relaunch, which was definitely necessary," said Heilmann, who represents Berlin. Thomas Heilmann, a CDU member of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, said the party's elected officials were relieved by Merkel's choice. "There was an overwhelming sense in the party that some freshness was needed." "The internal pressure was getting too strong," said Jan Techau, director of the Europe Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Her government - a so-called grand coalition - has been an unhappy and dysfunctional constellation of rivals, with both the center-left Social Democrats and the CDU's Bavarians sisters threatening to bolt.Īt the same time, discontent was rising within the ranks of the CDU, as the party bled support in regional votes and national polls to challengers on its right - the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party - and its left, the Greens. Until last fall, Merkel was the unquestionably dominant figure in German politics, having won three straight elections and seemingly on cruise control in a fourth.īut the vote in September 2017 delivered an unexpectedly poor finish for the CDU, and the chancellor's hold on power has never been the same. Merkel, a scientist-turned-politician who's known for her sober-minded assessments, may have had little choice. "But having weighed things very, very carefully, it is a risk I want to take." "Yes, this is a bit of a risk," she said. In the past, she has said that the chancellor should also be the leader of the ruling party, and that it was dangerous to divide the roles between two people.īut she said Monday that she had changed her mind over the summer as it became clear that "we cannot continue with business as usual." Merkel, who said she will retire from politics after her run as chancellor, has been CDU chairman since 2000. "The time has come to open a new chapter," Merkel, 64, said during a Berlin news conference that, as is typical of her, ran short on sentiment and long on matter-of-fact pronouncements. Britain's Theresa May is preoccupied with Brexit.Įurope's ascendant figures - including Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orban - have more in common with Trump than they do with Merkel.īut by opting to step aside as party chair Monday, Merkel may have given herself at least the chance at a graceful exit, and her party a shot at a managed transition to a fresh face. Public support for French President Emmanuel Macron has cratered. Her would-be successors are barely known outside of Germany. But her slow-motion departure leaves a void.
MERKELS LATEST LEADING LAME DUCK FREE
Either way, Merkel stepping down will mark a major transition for a continent she has shaped for the past 13 years, through her handling of multiple debt crises, her decisions on nuclear energy and, most of all, her fateful choice to allow more than one million asylum seekers to enter Germany.Ī vigorous defender of the liberal international order, Merkel has been regarded as a counterweight to President Donald Trump-style nationalism - one with the stature to defend free trade, multilateral institutions and the rule of law amid doubts over whether those ideals still matter in Washington.
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