Merkel says she won’t join debate over bloc’s successor
Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed Tuesday that she will keep out of a debate on who should be her centerright political bloc’s candidate to become Germany’s next leader after a state governor whose poll ratings soared during the coronavirus pandemic gave her a grand reception in Bavaria.
Merkel visited Herrenchiemsee palace, an opulent 19th-century edifice on a lake island inspired by France’s Versailles, at the invitation of Bavarian governor Markus Soeder. Her trip fed speculation about jostling in her Union bloc to run for chancellor in Germany’s next election, expected in the fall of 2021.
Merkel, Germany’s leader since 2005, says she won’t seek a fifth term.