Hamburg, December 7
Germany’s Christian Democrats elected Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Friday to replace Angela Merkel as party leader, a decision that moves her into pole position to succeed Europe’s most influential leader as chancellor.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, is Merkel’s protege and was the continuity candidate favoured by the party elite. She won the leadership with 517 votes out of 999 votes cast by delegates.
Her rival, Friedrich Merz, won 482 votes in a run-off.
A former state premier in Saarland, where she led a three-way coalition, Kramp-Karrenbauer has a reputation for uniting support across the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a talent for striking alliances with other parties.
Sometimes dubbed “mini-Merkel”, Kramp-Karrenbauer is admired by the CDU upper echelons for her appeal across the party. “I have read a lot about what I am and who I am: ‘mini’, a copy, simply ‘more of the same’. Dear delegates, I stand before you as I am and as life made me and I am proud of that,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a passionate speech to the congress.
Playing up her experience in regional government, she added to cheers and loud applause: “I learned what it is to lead, and above all learnt that leadership is more about being strong on the inside than being loud on the outside.” Merkel said in October she would step down as party chief but remain chancellor, an effort to manage her exit after a series of setbacks since her divisive decision in 2015 to keep German borders open to refugees fleeing war in the Middle East.
Earlier, an emotional Merkel bowed out as party leader, telling the congress: “It has been a great pleasure for me, it has been an honour.”
Kramp-Karrenbauer has differentiated herself from Merkel on social and foreign policy by voting in favour of quotas for women on corporate boards and taking a tougher line on Russia.
She said last week that Europe and the United States should consider blockading Russian ships over the Ukraine crisis. — Reuters
Kramp-Karrenbauer in saddle
- Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s trump card is her record as former state premier in Saarland, where she led a broad coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, an alliance-building skills useful in Germany’s fractured political landscape.
- Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, has differentiated herself from Merkel on social and foreign policy by voting in favour of quotas for women on corporate boards and by taking a tougher line on Russia.
- She told Reuters last week that Europe and the United States should consider blockading Russian ships over the Ukraine crisis. But on what lies ahead for the CDU, Kramp-Karrenbauer said: “I have no particular recipe.”
Looking Forward
The CDU in 2018 must not look back but look forward, with new people ... but with the same values. —Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
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