Merkel will not seek re-election as party chair, chancellor

After heavy losses for her conservative CDU/CSU alliance in regional elections in Bavaria and Hesse, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she will not seek re-election as party chairwoman. She also said she would not run for chancellor again. “This term is my last one as chancellor. I will not run for chancellor or parliament in 2021 and do not seek to occupy other political positions thereafter. […] My party can now prepare itself for the time after I'm gone,” Merkel told a press conference in Berlin. "The government's work has not always met my own quality standards in the last months,” she said, adding that the intention of her decision is to enable the government to focus on good governance. Merkel, who has in the past been nicknamed “climate-chancellor” for her long-standing international engagement for emissions cuts, has been chairwoman of the CDU since 2000 and chancellor since 2005. Stepping down as CDU chairwoman further undermines Merkel’s authority, wrote Andreas Rinke and Paul Carrel for Reuters. Party sources said Merkel’s favoured successor, CDU party secretary general Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Friedrich Merz, a former parliamentary leader of Merkel’s conservative alliance, and Health Minister Jens Spahn had announced their candidacies for the party chair, writes Reuters.

Find the Reuters article in English here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet The story of "Climate Chancellor" Angela Merkel.

The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on the topic later today.