Tears, cheers as Merkel quits party post To continue as Chancellor
■ ■ Her loyalist will lead CDU
Hamburg, Dec. 7: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s eventful 18 years at the helm of Christian Democratic Union ( CDU) came to an end on Friday when she stepped down to pave way for a new party head.
Ms Merkel, delivering an emotional speech at her farewell, strongly defended her policies as she received rapturous applause from CDU delegates and a 10- minute standing ovation accompanied by cheers and cries of “Danke Angie”. Delegates held posters stating: “Thanks boss, for 18 years of leadership”.
Ms Merkel will, however, continue as the chancellor. Annegret KrampKarrenbauer, a close ally of Ms Merkel, and general secretary of the CDU, was elected as her successor.
Pointing to the rise of populism worldwide and what she called a breakdown of shared Western values, Ms Merkel said the order she had championed was at r i s k . “Whether it’s the rejection of multilateralism, the r e t u r n to nationalism, the reduction of international cooperation to deal- making or threatened trade wars... we Christian Democrats must show in the face of all these challenges what we’ve got,” she said. Ms Merkel surprised the country and her party in late October when she announced she would not seek reelection as CDU leader at the party conference in Hamburg after a series of poll setbacks rooted in controversy over her liberal refugee policy. She has led Germany since 2005, and moved her party steadily toward the political c e n t r e . E x i t f r o m nuclear p o w e r and an end to military conscription are among her signature policies.
In August, Germany was stunned as right- wing extremists hijacked public anger over the killing of a man in Chemnitz in the east of the country. Young men were photographed giving Nazi salutes next to protesters railing against Ms Merkel’s migration policy. The final blow was the combined result of regional elections in Bavaria and Hesse, which showed that normally centrist voters were fleeing to the fringes, whether to the left- wing Greens or to the far- right Alternative for Germany ( AfD).