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Chancellor Merkel
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
15 years, ten months and four days - that is how long Angela Merkel will have ruled when a new Bundestag is elected on September 26th.
It will be a few more weeks, should the formation of a new government drag on well into winter, it could even catch up with the previous record holder, Helmut Kohl - who was in office for a little more than 16 years.
Either way, even in the opinion of many party friends, four terms in office are too long.
You are of the opinion that the chancellorship should in future be limited to three or even two terms.
Most recently, the CDU leader in Lower Saxony, Bernd Althusmann, suggested: "We should define as a party to limit our chancellorship to two terms," Althusmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a few days ago.
If you increase the electoral terms from four to five years at the same time - there are also discussions about this - you come to "a maximum of ten years," said Althusmann, who is also a member of the presidium of the federal CDU.
Previously, Federal Executive Board member Carsten Linnemann had pleaded in SPIEGEL for a limitation of the term of office to two legislative periods.
"So parties are forced to renew themselves permanently," said Linnemann, head of the economic wing of the CDU and CSU and vice of the parliamentary group.
With this argument, Merkel-tired Union politicians in particular had campaigned for a fixed term for the chancellorship in the past.
First and foremost, the youth of the party Junge Union, who have been campaigning for this for years.
In Bavaria it was so successful that the JU there received a narrow majority for a corresponding proposal at the CSU party congress in early 2019.
The hurdles are high
The fact that nothing came of the idea, although there are also supporters of the idea in other parliamentary groups, is also due to the high implementation hurdles: A corresponding amendment to the Basic Law would require a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat. In addition, even in the Union parliamentary group there are different opinions on the formal anti-eternity clause, which is intended to prevent the powdery mildew from spreading over the country later in the years of chancellor.
But now there could be new momentum in the debate because last week an electoral law commission was set up to deal with, among other things, the time limit for the chancellorship.
The Commission's agenda also includes how long a legislative period should be in the future, how parliament can be made smaller and how election dates can be bundled.
The committee should submit an interim report by September 30, after the election.
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The Chancellor and her possible successor Baerbock
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The woman who would like to be the next Chancellor herself could very well imagine a fixed term for this job.
"We should also take into account the limitation of the term of office of a chancellor," said Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock to SPIEGEL.
"A different type of leadership is needed." However, the Green politician does not want to commit to a specific maximum number of years in government for the time being.
Baerbock reminds that Merkel's withdrawal means that for the first time no incumbent will run again.
"We are just seeing how much movement there is when, for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, all parties are challenged to dare something new."
The head of the Greens also advocates a debate on an extended legislative period - provided that there are also more opportunities to participate, for example through citizens' councils.
The Greens also want to strengthen parliament's control and participation rights vis-à-vis the government, downsize parliament and lower the voting age to 16 years.
SPD against time limit for chancellorship
The SPD is also open to reforms in terms of voting rights.
An extension of the legislative period would "certainly make sense," says party leader Saskia Esken.
In this way one could extend the "active time" of governing.
What is meant by this is the time when politics is not concerned with forming a government or with the next election campaign.
"That is done by the market."
SPD Vice Kevin Kühnert for the discussion about a possible term limit for the Federal Chancellor
However, the SPD leader does not believe in a time limit for chancellorship: "This is a transparent maneuver by the CDU," after the Union had occupied the chancellery with the same person twice for 16 years each.
This time, Esken scoffs, the CDU and CSU are evidently afraid of losing the Chancellery for a longer period of time.
SPD Deputy Chief Kevin Kühnert rejects the move even more clearly.
He speaks of an "absurd discussion" and adds: "That is regulated by the market." Those who would otherwise sign this sentence at any time have a completely different opinion at this point.
The FDP has also repeatedly spoken out in favor of allowing an incumbent chancellor to be re-elected only once.
And what does the newly elected Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet say about the question that could affect himself in the coming years?
Nothing.
The CDU boss does not want to comment on the debate at the moment, it says on request.
The same applies to CSU leader Markus Söder, who only withdrew a few days ago from the internal power struggle with Laschet.
In Söder's case, this is remarkable: shortly before his election as Bavarian Prime Minister, he himself campaigned for a limitation of the term of office at the head of the Free State and a corresponding amendment to the state constitution.
Because parts of the opposition were against it, nothing came of the plans.
The change belongs to democracy, was Söder's central argument at the time - he also had Merkel and federal politics in mind.
The change will now take place in any case.