‘Mini Merkel’ in pole position to take over from her mentor
IN A move widely seen as anointing her successor, Angela Merkel yesterday promoted one of her key lieutenants to a pivotal role as chairman of her Christian Democrat Party (CDU).
The appointment puts Annegret Kramp-karrenbauer in pole position to take control of the party when Mrs Merkel eventually steps down or is forced from office.
Popularly known as “mini-merkel”, Ms Kramp-karrenbauer has long been seen as the chancellor’s preferred successor. But yesterday’s move is the first sign that Mrs Merkel is now actively planning for the succession.
The appointment was also a signal that Mrs Merkel does not intend to give ground to her CDU critics amid rumblings of discontent over concessions in securing a coalition with the SPD.
Although Ms Kramp-karrenbauer has a formidable record as an election campaigner, her experience is in regional politics in her home state of Saarland, where she is prime minister. ♦ Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AFD) has surpassed the centre-left Social Demo- crats (SPD) for the first time in a national poll to become the second-strongest party, an Insa survey for Bild showed.
Support for Mrs Merkel’s conservative bloc rose from 29.5 per cent to 32 per cent. The AFD was up one percentage point to 16 per cent while the SPD fell from 16.5 per cent to 15.5 per cent.