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ANGELA MERKEL

Merkel’s favoured successor AKK to become German Defence Minister

Chancellor Angela Merkel's favoured successor and the head of her CDU party will become the country's next Defence Minister in a surprise move, after Ursula von der Leyen was elected European Commission president.

Published: 17 July 2019 08:29 CEST
Updated: 17 July 2019 09:34 CEST
Merkel's favoured successor AKK to become German Defence Minister
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Angela Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen in 2017. Photo: DPA

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, best known to Germans as “AKK”, will be appointed on Wednesday during a handover in Berlin with her predecessor von der Leyen and the first vice president of the Bundesrat upper house, which confirmed the news in a statement.

Von der Leyen, who had served as Defence Minister since 2013, is stepping down to become the first woman to hold the EU's top job after MEPs narrowly backed her in a Tuesday vote.

The surprise announcement for her replacement came after various media reports stated that Health Minister Jens Spahn was to take the Defence Minister position.

The news about Spahn, who was seen as a favourite to snap up the job, had been confirmed by the Bundeswehr (German army) and government circles – but a short while later, there was a shock change.

Some media reported Wednesday morning that Spahn did not want to take up the job, which is considered a tough gig.

READ ALSO: Germany's von der Leyen elected as first woman to lead European Commission

'Fast replacement'

The move has been welcomed in political circles. Thomas Strobl, Kramp-Karrenbauer's deputy in the centre-right party called it a “good surprise”.

Before Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is widely seen as the chancellor's chosen heir, was announced as the new minister, Merkel had said there would be a “very fast replacement”.

“The defence ministry, the defence minister, hold command and military authority. We cannot leave this post empty for long,” she said.

According to DPA, there are no other changes planned for the federal cabinet. Kramp-Karrenbauer is expected to take up the appointment around 11am on Wednesday. That means Merkel will welcome her favoured successor into the government team on her 65th birthday.

It will be the first ministerial post for Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was born in Saarland near the French border, and has become a leading figure in German politics – but not without controversy.

Sometimes called “mini-Merkel”, she has been poised to take over as chancellor since becoming CDU chief in December after Merkel announced she would not seek another term when her current one ends in 2021.

However the 56-year-old's appointment to the difficult post on Tuesday evening has come as a surprise to many, after she faced strong criticism for the CDU's poor results in May's European Parliament election.

It was also previously thought that Kramp-Karrenbauer would not go into Merkel's cabinet and instead concentrate on her task as CDU leader.

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POLITICS

Sleep, seaside, potato soup: What will Merkel do next?

 After 16 years in charge of Europe's biggest economy, the first thing Angela Merkel wants to do when she retires from politics is take "a little nap". But what about after that?

Published: 5 December 2021 17:31 CET
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly closes her eyes and smiles at a 2018 press conference in Berlin.
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly closes her eyes at a 2018 press conference in Berlin. Aside from plans to take "a little nap" after retiring this week, she hasn't given much away about what she might do next. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

The veteran chancellor has been tight-lipped about what she will do after handing over the reins to her successor Olaf Scholz on December 8th.

During her four terms in office, 67-year-old Merkel was often described as the most powerful woman in the world — but she hinted recently that she will not miss being in charge.

“I will understand very quickly that all this is now someone else’s responsibility. And I think I’m going to like that situation a lot,” she said during a trip to Washington this summer.

Famous for her stamina and her ability to remain fresh after all-night meetings, Merkel once said she can store sleep like a camel stores water.

But when asked about her retirement in Washington, she replied: “Maybe I’ll try to read something, then my eyes will start to close because I’m tired, so I’ll take a little nap, and then we’ll see where I show up.”

READ ALSO: ‘Eternal’ chancellor: Germany’s Merkel to hand over power
READ ALSO: The Merkel-Raute: How a hand gesture became a brand

‘See what happens’
First elected as an MP in 1990, just after German reunification, Merkel recently suggested she had never had time to stop and reflect on what else she might like to do.

“I have never had a normal working day and… I have naturally stopped asking myself what interests me most outside politics,” she told an audience during a joint interview with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

“As I have reached the age of 67, I don’t have an infinite amount of time left. This means that I want to think carefully about what I want to do in the next phase of my life,” she said.

“Do I want to write, do I want to speak, do I want to go hiking, do I want to stay at home, do I want to see the world? I’ve decided to just do nothing to begin with and see what happens.”

Merkel’s predecessors have not stayed quiet for long. Helmut Schmidt, who left the chancellery in 1982, became co-editor of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit and a popular commentator on political life.

Helmut Kohl set up his own consultancy firm and Gerhard Schroeder became a lobbyist, taking a controversial position as chairman of the board of the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

German writer David Safier has imagined a more eccentric future for Merkel, penning a crime novel called Miss Merkel: Mord in der Uckermark  that sees her tempted out of retirement to investigate a mysterious murder.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel forms her trademark hand gesture, the so-called “Merkel-Raute” (known in English as the Merkel rhombus, Merkel diamond or Triangle of Power). (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
 

Planting vegetables
Merkel may wish to spend more time with her husband Joachim Sauer in Hohenwalde, near Templin in the former East Germany where she grew up, and where she has a holiday home that she retreats to when she’s weary.

Among the leisure activities she may undertake there is vegetable, and especially, potato planting, something that she once told Bunte magazine in an interview in 2013 that she enjoyed doing.

She is also known to be a fan of the volcanic island of D’Ischia, especially the remote seaside village of Sant’Angelo.

Merkel was captured on a smartphone video this week browsing the footwear in a Berlin sportswear store, leading to speculation that she may be planning something active.

Or the former scientist could embark on a speaking tour of the countless universities from Seoul to Tel Aviv that have awarded her honorary doctorates.

Merkel is set to receive a monthly pension of around 15,000 euros ($16,900) in her retirement, according to a calculation by the German Taxpayers’ Association.

But she has never been one for lavish spending, living in a fourth-floor apartment in Berlin and often doing her own grocery shopping.

In 2014, she even took Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to her favourite supermarket in Berlin after a bilateral meeting.

So perhaps she will simply spend some quiet nights in sipping her beloved white wine and whipping up the dish she once declared as her favourite, a “really good potato soup”.

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