German chancellor to give up party seat
Angela Merkel says she will not run for re-election in 2021
BERLIN — Once the most powerful politician in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted on Monday that she has become a lame duck, setting off a scramble to replace her and deepening the continent’s deficit of highoctane leaders.
A day after a stinging electoral defeat in regional elections, Merkel said she will step aside as chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union at the party’s conference in December and will not run for reelection as chancellor in 2021.
The surprise decision reflected growing pressure on the longest-serving head of state in the European Union after a year of setbacks.
The battle to succeed her is likely to become a referendum on her reign, with whoever emerges atop the CDU becoming the instant favorite to take over as chancellor.
Merkel’s preferred heir, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, wants to continue in her tradition of moderation and big-tent centrism.
But with Germany, and Europe, becoming ever more polarized, challengers are likely to push for the party to tack hard to the right.
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 1 million asylum seekers to enter Germany.
A vigorous defender of the liberal international order, Merkel has been regarded as a counterweight to President Donald Trump-style nationalism.
By opting to step aside as party chairwoman 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.
“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.
Merkel, who said she will retire from politics after her run as chancellor, has been CDU chairwoman since 2000.
Merkel’s announcement set off a flurry of speculation in the German media over who would follow her as chancellor.
Merkel had long resisted grooming a successor, and she did not endorse a candidate on Monday.