Merkel wins party nod for coalition

China Daily | Updated: 2018-02-28 07:57

New general-secretary in pole position to succeed chancellor

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has approved a coalition deal with the Social Democrats, or SPD, bringing closer a fourth term for her as well as an end to political limbo in Europe's pre-eminent power.

The more formidable hurdle to ending a five-month political impasse comes next week, however. On March 4, results of a binding postal vote by members of the center-left SPD will be announced and they are far less certain.

"Now I can only say to the SPD that I hope many members feel the same responsibility for giving Germany a good government," Merkel said in an interview with broadcaster RTL. "I think we can achieve a lot together for Germany and its people."

The vote at a CDU congress followed Merkel's announcement of her picks for a new, younger cabinet intended to revive the party, which has been shaken by disagreements over how to respond to the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, since losing votes to the far-right party in national elections in September.

Merkel filled the remaining CDU ministries with loyalists, keeping Ursula von der Leyen at the defense ministry, putting close ally Peter Altmaier on the economic affairs brief and placing Julia Kloeckner in the agriculture job.

The CDU's youth wing has called for the party to renew itself in the wake of its worst election result since 1949 in September and Merkel, 63, stressed in her speech to delegates at the CDU gathering that younger faces were in the new team.

Monday's vote came as a poll showed support for both Merkel's conservative bloc - which also includes the Bavarian Christian Social Union - and the SPD rising.

Delegates cast aside whatever doubts they may have had in Merkel by voting overwhelmingly to appoint a centrist candidate she had handpicked as the CDU's new secretary-general.

'Mini-Merkel'

Promising to lead a centrist mass party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55, won the backing of more than 98 percent of delegates to be the general-secretary of the ruling party. It puts her in pole position to succeed Merkel as chancellor after spending most of her career in a tiny state on the French border.

Dubbed a "Mini-Merkel" by German media, she is moving into a job that Merkel had before she became chancellor.

She attracted attention and respect from fellow conservatives last year by winning a resounding victory in a state election which Merkel described as "sensational".

Her Catholic, western German background contrasts with Merkel's Protestant, eastern roots.

While socially conservative and known for opposing same-sex marriage, Kramp-Karrenbauer is also a strong supporter of the minimum wage and workers' rights.

Reuters - Ap