Angela Merkel will leave the presidency of the CDU after 18 years: source of the party

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel told leaders of her Christian Democrat Party (CDU) that she would not run for the party presidency at a conference in early December, announced Monday. a source close to the party.

Merkel, 64, has been president of the CDU since 2000 and giving up this role would trigger a race within the party to succeed him to the Chancellor. The euro fell to the lows on the news.

The German news agency DPA, citing sources, tweeted that Merkel wanted to remain Chancellor.

Monday's developments come after the CDU came home, but it lost its support during a Sunday vote in the state of Hesse, in the west of the country, second electoral failure in the span of several weeks for the conservative Merkel alliance.

Withdrew from the party chair would allow a new president of the CDU or a new woman to be profiled before the next national election scheduled for 2021. Merkel's favorite successor is the secretary general of the CDU party, Annegret Kramp- Karrenbauer.

Merkel's weakness at home could limit her ability to rank first in the European Union at a time when the bloc is facing Brexit, a fiscal crisis in Italy and the prospect of gains populist parties in the European Parliament elections next May.