German Chancellor Angela Merkel ready to resign from party leadership

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that she was ready to hand over the leadership of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the end of the year, according to numerous media reports, stating clearly that her time at the helm of Europe's largest economy is running fast.

Merkel has been president of the CDU since 2000 and, although her departure from the party does not prevent her from resigning as German Chancellor, this decision is a recognition of her increasingly vulnerable position.

Merkel herself has stated in the past that the Chancellor should also be the leader of the ruling party. But according to the German public radio, Merkel wants to remain in office even after the transfer of powers of the party.

The chancellor had to publicly confirm her decision on Monday afternoon.

The announcement of this announcement, which was unexpected, sparked a wave of speculation in the German media about the fate of Merkel. Aged 64, he has been leading Germany for 13 years and, until recently, he was not perceived as a successor.

Earlier this year, however, she seemed to have given her blessing to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, former head of the Saarland state in West Germany, and now general secretary of the CDU. Kramp-Karrenbauer is considered a moderate in Merkel's tradition. But the conservative wing of the CDU should also rise to the challenge, with Health Minister Jens Spahn, 38, considered a possible candidate.

Monday's big-print newspaper Bild also named Friedrich Merz, a former CDU head of parliament, as a possible candidate for the party presidency.

The CDU is expected to choose its new president in December at a party conference in Hamburg, northern Germany. Until Monday, it was generally expected that Merkel would be re-elected, although it was felt that she might face a challenge as the number of party polls dropped and regional elections gave a series of poor results.

Merkel's decision comes one day after his party suffered heavy losses in regional elections in the state of Hesse, long a long time an indicator for the country. Just two weeks ago, the sister union of the CDU, the Christian Social Union, suffered similar losses in its country, Bavaria.

The decision comes a month after Volker Kauder, Merkel's historic leader in the German parliament, was unexpectedly beaten by an internal party vote. The loss for Merkel's longtime confidante marked a rare moment when the CDU's elected officials defied the Chancellor's wishes.

Until last autumn, Merkel was in a familiar position: undeniably dominant figure in German politics, with few real rivals. However, the September 2017 national elections produced a surprisingly mediocre result for the CDU, and the chancellor's inability to power has never been the same since.

The election of the state parliament in Hesse on Sunday – seat of Frankfurt, the heart of German finance – gave 27% of the vote to Merkel's center-right CDU.

That was enough for first place, but down 11% since the last state vote in 2013, which is the party's worst performance in more than half a century. Party leader Volker Bouffier called the result "very humiliating".

The support of Merkel's coalition, the center-left social democrats (SPD), has also dropped from 31% to 20% – a record low for 72 years. The poor performance of the Social Democrats in this year's regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria has increased pressure on their national leaders to force Merkel to make further concessions.

Luisa Beck contributed to this report.

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