(Bloomberg) -- The race to lead
Germany was thrown wide open on Monday when Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she will step down as leader of Angela Merkel’s Christian
Democratic Union and won’t run as the party’s candidate for chancellor in the next election.Kramp-Karrenbauer, widely known by her initials AKK, has struggled to stamp her authority on the party since taking over from Merkel in December 2018 and was humiliated last week when a local chapter in eastern Germany defied her orders and threw its lot in with the far-right Alternative for Germany.Her resignation leaves a question mark over Germany’s political direction once Merkel steps down next year at the latest. AKK was hand-picked by the chancellor to safeguard her legacy and held off a challenger from a more conservative faction within the CDU who wanted more support for business and less emphasis on the environment and social issues. Those demands are likely to return as the leadership race heats up.Hanging over the process is the dilemma of how the CDU should handle the return of far-right politics in the former communist east. Many voters there have turned to the AfD because they feel left behind during years of economic growth and resent Berlin’s perceived largess toward refugees. The party’s official stance is that there can be no cooperation with the AfD at any level, but local officials have been questioning whether that remains practical.AKK’s downfall was ultimately triggered when the CDU in Thuringia voted alongside the AfD to elect a state premier last week. Local leader Mike Mohring has been forced to back track, but other CDU officials in the east have signaled sympathy for his maneuver as he tries to maintain support for the party.AKK told party colleagues at a meeting in
Berlin that one reason for her decision is the “unclear relationship” between parts of the CDU and the far-right AfD and the anti-capitalist Left party, the spokesman said. She is strictly opposed to any cooperation with the two parties.Leadership ContestThe outgoing leader said that she believes the next party head should also be the candidate for chancellor in 2021, according to a spokesman. She plans to organize the selection process by the summer and then step down once a successor has been chosen. AKK is due to give a news conference at around midday local time.AKK’s departure will be welcomed by the party’s right. Olav Gutting, a lawmaker who has been critical of Merkel’s moderate course, said mistakes had “piled up” under AKK and her departure spares the CDU a “destructive test.”“Regardless of personal sympathy, one has to see that the base had growing doubts about AKK’s capabilities for the chancellorship,” Gutting told Bloomberg News. He declined to speculate on 30her successor, which he expected to be in place in the second half of the year.Merkel asked AKK, who is her defense minister, to stay on in her position in the cabinet, an official said. She took the cabinet post in July when it was vacated by Ursula von der Leyen, who had been appointed as
European Commission president.Ill-at-ease, isolated, and struggling for relevance, the CDU leader failed to unite the party behind her. She made a series of gaffes that irritated insiders and made her widely unpopular with voters. Officials at CDU headquarters in Berlin had become increasingly worried that their leader won’t be a viable candidate.Thuringia was her final debacle. Even as she sought to clear up the mess, she was unable to convince local officials to support new
elections in the region as a way to clear the slate in a five-hour meeting that lasted until early Friday.Her retreat opens the way for others to press forward to lead Germany’s strongest party. Potential contenders are deputy chairman Armin Laschet, a well connected state leader from North Rhine-Westphalia; up-and-coming Health Minister Jens Spahn; former Merkel nemesis Friedrich Merz; and Markus Soeder, the leader of the Bavarian CSU sister party.Laschet didn’t participate in Monday’s meeting of the CDU leadership.(Adds comment from CDU lawmaker)To contact the reporters on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net;Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills, Chris ReiterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.