02/10/2020 - 9:58
- Clarín.com
- World
The political crisis that broke out in recent times left Angela Merkel without her successor appointed to Chancellor of Germany. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer decided to renounce this privilege and will leave the presidency of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after the alliance of his party with the extreme right in the region of Thuringia.
Kramp-Karrenbauer informed the party leadership, meeting on Monday morning, that "it does not have the objective of being a candidate for the German chancellery," justifying its decision by the temptation of a party sector to ally with the Alternative movement to Germany (AfD) .
In her explanation, the party president explained that "a part of the CDU has an unclear relationship with AfD", from the extreme right, but also with the radical left-wing party Die Linke (The Left) , and that she rejects any alliance with both formations, a source close to the party told AFP.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, next to Angela Merkel. (AFP)
To the extent that he considers that the candidacy for the chancellery implies the presidency of the party, AKK announced that in the coming months he will resign to lead the CDU. Meanwhile, "it will organize in the summer the process of selecting the candidates for the chancellery" to succeed Angela Merkel, at the latest at the end of 2021, the source said.
"It will continue preparing the party to face the future and then leave the presidency," the source added. Kramp-Karrenbauer, however, will continue to lead the Ministry of Defense .
AKK was elected president of the CDU in December 2018 in replacement of Merkel, who had decided to resign to lead the party due to its growing unpopularity following a series of electoral defeats and the electoral rise of the extreme right.
However, he never managed to impose his authority and was heavily criticized by the alliance by surprise between the CDU and AfD to elect a liberal leader to the Thuringian presidency and thus prevent the re-election of the leftist president.
Kramp-Karrenbauer is restrained from his inability to impose a line in the party, divided between adversaries and supporters of a cooperation with AfD, especially in the eastern states that belonged to communist Germany, and where the extreme right is very powerful and complicates the formation of regional majorities.
The AKK decision means a new distribution of cards in the game for the succession of Merkel, in power since 2005, and leaves the field open to the great rival of both, Friedrich Merz , who lost by little margin the presidential elections of the match in december 2018.
With information from AFP.
JPE