She throws in the towel. Angela Merkel's designated runner-up in Germany, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, announced on Monday February 10 that she would give up taking over from him. The president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) also said she would give up the presidency of the conservative party, learning from the political crisis opened by an alliance with the extreme right in Thuringia.

At a meeting of the leadership of the conservative party, she explained that "part of the CDU has an unclear relationship with the AfD" but also with the radical left party Die Linke, even though it even rejects Clearly any alliance with one or the other of these formations, told AFP a source close to the movement.

The Estate of Angela Merkel

The president of the Christian Democratic Union CDU, nicknamed by her initials AKK, added that she "does not aim to be a candidate for the German chancellery".

Insofar as the candidacy for the chancellery must go hand in hand with the presidency of the party in his eyes, AKK has therefore decided to renounce in the coming months this presidency.
"AKK will organize the selection process for the Chancellery this summer" to succeed Angela Merkel by the end of 2021 at the latest, the source said.

"She will continue to prepare the party to face the future and then give up the presidency," she said. However, she must keep her post as Minister of Defense.

Extreme right push

AKK had been elected in December 2018 as president of the CDU, replacing Angela Merkel, who at the time had given up because of her growing unpopularity after a series of electoral setbacks and the push to the polls of the extreme right.

AKK never succeeded in winning the presidency of the CDU, however. It was particularly criticized after the surprise alliance formed last week between CDU elected officials from Thuringia and the far right to elect a new leader for this regional state.

AKK has been criticized for not holding its party, torn between opponents and supporters of cooperation with the AfD, especially in the states of the former GDR, where the far right is very powerful and complicates training regional majorities.

With AFP

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