Parting shot for old rival as the end draws near

Angela Merkel may be on her way out, but as she plots her departure from an increasingly chaotic European stage, she demonstrated once again yesterday why she is one of the great political survivors.

The election of Annegret Krampkarrenbauer by just 35 out of nearly 1,000 votes came after Mrs Merkel used her valedictory speech as leader of the CDU to quietly knife the pretender to the crown – the conservative millionaire banker Friedrich Merz.

In 2002, Mrs Merkel elbowed aside Mr Merz as CDU parliamentary leader to cement her ascent to power; yesterday, she did for him again. She said the CDU was a “different party” to the one in which Mr Merz was a rising star in the late Nineties, and successfully urged delegates to stay on the centrist path she has led them down for 18 years.

The result does not guarantee her survival, but, as Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform in Berlin observes, it increases her chances of a dignified exit.

The opportunity is now there to ensure a smooth transition and give “AKK” the chance to shine. If Mr Merz had won, an early palace coup would have been likely.

For the EU, AKK means near-term stability at a time of growing upheaval as the bloc wrestles with Brexit fallout and the rise of populism – including, of course, in Germany.

But Mrs Merkel’s success in installing her anointed successor does not herald a fundamental re-stabilising of German politics, which, like elsewhere in Europe, is fracturing fast.

That was Mr Merz’s argument for a change of tack back to the Right – to outflank the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD), whose sudden rise since the 2015 migrant crisis has left the CDU vote perilously squeezed.

Another poor showing at next autumn’s regional elections in the old East Germany – where the AFD are strongest – may yet reinforce Mr Merz’s arguments and hasten Mrs Merkel’s demise. But for now at least, the great survivor fights on.