Angela Merkel says she won’t seek a 5th term as German chancellor
BERLIN» Germany’s Angela Merkel announced Monday that she will step down as head of her conservative party in December after 18 years and won’t seek a fifth term as chancellor in 2021, launching a leadership transition in Europe’s biggest economy.
Merkel has led her conservative Christian Democratic Union since 2000 and Germany since 2005. She put Germany — and Europe — on track toward a new political era after voters punished Germany’s governing parties in a state election Sunday, the latest in a string of woes to hit her fourthterm federal administration.
Merkel currently governs Germany in a “grand coalition” of what traditionally have been the country’s biggest parties — the CDU, Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union and the centerleft Social Democrats. Her current coalition took office only in March, after six months of tortuous negotiations, but has become notorious for its squabbling.
The 64yearold chancellor’s personal popularity remains solid but she appeared keen to launch an orderly transition period amid signs that her authority is eroding. Merkel will now concentrate her energy on keeping her government going until 2021, something that still remains uncertain.
Merkel told reporters in Ber lin that she has led the CDU with “passion and dedication” but added “today it is time to start a new chapter.”
That will start with her handing off the party leadership to a successor at a party congress in December.
“This fourth term is my final term as chancellor,” Merkel added. “I will not run as candidate for chancellor in the 2021 election, and will not seek reelection to the German parliament. And, just for the record, I will not aim for any other political office.”
It had been widely assumed this would be Merkel’s final term in office, but the comments were the chancellor’s first public confirmation of that.
For years, Merkel has insisted that the chancellor should also be party leader. But she said Monday that she had decided splitting the two jobs is “justifiable” since she didn’t plan to seek a fifth term as chancellor.
“With this decision, I am trying to contribute to allowing the government to concentrate its strength, finally, on governing well — and people rightly demand that,” Merkel said.
At the same time, she said the CDU will be able “to prepare for the time after me.”
She said she had been mulling her decision for months. Merkel’s onetime mentor, Helmut Kohl, did seek a fifth term in 1998 and lost power after 16 years. There is precedent for the chancellor not leading his or her party.