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Update: Merkel ‘heir’ AKK will not run for German chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party and her plans to stay on until 2021 were plunged into disarray Monday after her heir-apparent gave up her leadership ambitions in a deepening crisis over ties between the centre and far right.

Published: 10 February 2020 09:35 CET
Updated: 10 February 2020 17:55 CET

Update: Merkel 'heir' AKK will not run for German chancellor

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer next to Angela Merkel at a CDU meeting in 2019. Photo: DPA

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), opted out after barely a year in the post — a period marked by internal battles over whether to cooperate with the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

She announced that she was standing down as CDU leader and would not seek to be the party's candidate for chancellor in next year's general elections.

“This is an unusually serious situation for the CDU,” said close Merkel ally and Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.

Speaking later in Berlin, Merkel said she “regrets” AKK's departure, at one point calling her simply “Annegret” in a rare personal moment in front of the cameras.

AKK, as Kramp-Karrenbauer is popularly known, said she had had “a difficult time” as party leader.

“At present, we can feel powerful centrifugal forces in our society and in our party,” she told reporters in Berlin.

While the party has a policy of no cooperation with either far left or far right at a national level, regional CDU lawmakers last week went rogue and voted with MPs from the AfD to oust a far-left state premier in Thuringia.

The breach in the political dam towards the AfD in Thuringia prompted Merkel's junior partners in the national government, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), to call urgent talks at the weekend about the partnership's future.

AKK's departure, the most prominent political head to roll after the Thuringia crisis, was “unsettling,” SPD board member Michael Roth tweeted Monday.

“It is still less certain whether decent democrats stand together in the battle for democracy and against nationalism,” he added.

“The CDU must clarify its relationship to far-right extremists,” SPD co-leader Norbert Walter-Borjans told a press conference on Monday.

Centre-left SPD ministers will not work with a party “that leaves room for far-right forces,” he added.

With the race to the chancellery wide open again, Süddeutsche Zeitung said the aftershocks could be huge.

“It's very possible that the chancellor's exit is coming closer,” it wrote.

Broken taboo

Voting alongside the far right breaches one of the fundamental taboos of post-World War II German politics – the refusal of mainstream parties to work with the extremes.

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AKK's attempts to impose rigid no-cooperation discipline from Berlin have foundered especially in Germany's former communist east, where strong showings for the AfD and Left in some states threaten the ability of mainstream parties to form functioning coalition majorities.

Germany's next national elections must take place by autumn next year, although the fractious coalition between the CDU, its Bavarian CSU allies and the SPD may not hold until then.

AKK however said she did not believe her retreat would endanger “the stability of the grand coalition government”.

By this summer, the Catholic mum-of-three hopes to have set up a process for finding the person to lead the CDU into the next federal campaign.

“Separating the office of chancellor and the party chairmanship is weakening the CDU,” she said Monday — an implicit rebuke to Merkel's 2018 decision to split the two.

The veteran chancellor gave up on the party leadership as a string of regional defeats and the growth of the far right undermined her popularity within her own ranks.

Merkel, who has been in power since 2005, announced at the same time that she would not run again for the highest office.

Her inability to keep her troops in line prompted Kramp-Karrenbauer to tell a meeting of the CDU's leadership “she will not be a candidate for the chancellery”, the source said.

The move finally ends the role as heir apparent she had held since even before she was heaved with Merkel's backing into the party's top job.

Race to the top

Despite Merkel naming her defence minister last July to lend her the gravitas of federal office, AKK has never managed to stamp her authority on the CDU after her narrow win over challenger Friedrich Merz.

Her bowing out now reopens the race to succeed Merkel.

Merkel has been in power since 2005, but said she would not run again for the highest office at the same time she gave up the CDU leadership.

Merz, a former rival of Merkel's, has been waiting in the wings ever since AKK prevailed in the leadership election, and still enjoys strong backing from the pro-business and more conservative wings of the party.

Just last week, the former CDU parliamentary leader gave up his job at giant asset manager BlackRock “to support the party more strongly in its renewal and re-enter politics”, he said.

AKK's decision to quit “deserves respect,” Merz tweeted Monday. “I will give her every support to lead from the front the process for her succession and the chancellor candidacy.”

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Output is expected to expand 0.3 percent this year, the economy ministry said, up from a prediction of 0.2 percent in February.

The slightly rosier picture comes after improvements in key indicators — from factory output to business activity — boosted hopes a recovery may be getting under way.

The German economy shrank slightly last year, hit by soaring inflation, a manufacturing slowdown and weakness in trading partners, and has acted as a major drag on the 20-nation eurozone.

But releasing its latest projections, the economy ministry said in a statement there were growing indications of a “turning point”.

“Signs of an economic upturn have increased significantly, especially in recent weeks,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said at a press conference.

The ministry also cut its forecast for inflation this year to 2.4 percent, from a previous prediction of 2.8 percent, and sees the figure falling below two percent next year.

“The fall in inflation will lead to consumer demand — people have more money in their wallets again, and will spend this money,” said Habeck.

“So purchasing power is increasing, real wages are rising and this will contribute to a domestic economic recovery.”

Energy prices — which surged after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — had also fallen and supply chain woes had eased, he added.

Several months ago there had been expectations of a strong rebound in 2024, with forecasts of growth above one percent, but these were dialled back at the start of the year as the economy continued to languish.

‘Germany has fallen behind’

But improving signs have fuelled hopes the lumbering economy — while not about to break into a sprint — may at least be getting back on its feet.

On Wednesday a closely-watched survey from the Ifo institute showed business sentiment rising for a third consecutive month in April, and more strongly than expected.

A key purchasing managers’ index survey this week showed that business activity in Germany had picked up.

And last week the central bank, the Bundesbank, forecast the economy would expand slightly in the first quarter, dodging a recession, after earlier predicting a contraction.

German Economics Minister Robert Habeck

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) presents the latest economic forecasts at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, April 24th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler

Despite the economy’s improving prospects, growth of 0.3 percent is still slower than other developed economies and below past rates, and officials fret it is unlikely to pick up fast in the years ahead.

Habeck has repeatedly stressed solutions are needed for deep-rooted problems facing Germany, from an ageing population to labour shortages and a transition towards greener industries that is moving too slowly.

“Germany has fallen behind other countries in terms of competitiveness,” he said. “We still have a lot to do — we have to roll up our sleeves.”

Already facing turbulence from pandemic-related supply chain woes, the German economy’s problems deepened dramatically when Russia invaded Ukraine and slashed supplies of gas, hitting the country’s crucial manufacturers hard.

While the energy shock has faded, continued weakness in trading partners such as China, widespread strikes in recent months and higher eurozone interest rates have all prolonged the pain.

The European Central Bank has signalled it could start cutting borrowing costs in June, which would boost the eurozone.

But Habeck stressed that care was still needed as, despite the expectations of imminent easing, “tight monetary policy has not yet been lifted.”

In addition, disagreements in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party ruling coalition are hindering efforts to reignite growth, critics say.

This week the pro-business FDP party, a coalition partner, faced an angry backlash from Scholz’s SPD when it presented a 12-point plan for an “economic turnaround”, including deep cuts to state benefits.

Christian Lindner, the fiscally hawkish FDP finance minister, welcomed signs of “stabilisation” in the economic forecasts but stressed that projected medium-term growth was “too low to sustainably finance our state”.

“There are no arguments for postponing the economic turnaround,” he added.