By Elton Gomes
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was voted successor to Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the partys conference in Hamburg on Friday.
Winning by a narrow margin, Kramp-Karrenbauer received 51 percent of the vote from delegates in a second-round runoff against her main rival, Friedrich Merz, a businessman and traditional conservative. The third candidate, Jens Spahn, was eliminated in the first round.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, also known by her shortened name A.K.K, was the state premier of Saarland between 2011 and 2018. Though Merkel did not endorse her openly, she was Merkels favored successor. She has served as the CDU’s secretary general since February 2018.
Meanwhile, Merkel will remain Germanys chancellor and can look forward to working with a close ally in the form of Kramp-Karrenbauer at the head of her party.
However, considering that German chancellors are almost always party heads, Kramp-Karrenbauer could be considered a favorite to succeed Merkel in Germany’s top political post as well.
Angela Merkel to continue as Chancellor
In October, Merkel she would be stepping down as party chief but will remain Chancellor, in 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 the Middle East.
The 64-year-old Chancellor told the CDU congress in Hamburg of her gratitude for the chance to have served as party chief for 18 years of which she spent 13 years as chancellor. During her tenure, Merkel dominated European politics as its key crisis manager and consensus-builder.
“It has been a great pleasure for me, it has been an honour,” she said to a standing ovation lasting nearly 10 minutes, and fighting to hold back tears, Reuters reported.
Merkels decision to step down from party leadership was accompanied by cheers and cries of Danke Angie. Delegates held posters stating: Thanks boss, for 18 years of leadership.
Outlining the multiple challenges facing Germany, from rapidly changing technology to climate change and a global shift from multilateralism to defending national interests, Merkel said: “In times like these, we will defend our liberal views, our way of life, both at home and abroad. The CDU in 2018 must not look back but look forward, with new people but with the same values,” as per the Reuters report.
Admitting she had sometimes been an infuriating leader, driving some to distraction with my last-minute decision-making indicating her controversial decision to open Germanys borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees Merkel said it was time for the CDU to embark on a new chapter.
Who is Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer?
Dubbed a mini-Merkel a title she is eager to shed Kramp-Karrenbauer was not officially endorsed by the chancellor, but was clearly her favourite.
In a veiled sign of her support earlier in the day, Merkel praised Kramp-Karrenbauer for her contribution to the CDUs electoral success during a valedictory speech to the party.
Kramp-Karrenbauer grew up in a Catholic family in Saarland in south-western Germany, the country’s smallest state. She joined the CDU in 1981 as a 19-year-old student. After completing a masters in political science, she worked her way up in state-level politics.
Kramp-Karrenbauer became the first woman to serve as a state minister for internal affairs in 2000. She was also the first woman to serve as prime minister of Saarland, a position she held from 2011 to 2018. After being nominated by Chancellor Merkel, Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected as CDU general secretary after winning a record 98.9% of votes.
In her speech to delegates before the vote, Kramp-Karrenbauer sought to hit positive notes. She recalled joining the CDU because the party was, in her eyes, the only one that offered a centrist alternative to doomsday scenarios like nuclear war.
It was “the party that didn’t see everything pessimistically” and “that drew people from all political realms into the middle,” she said, DW reported.
We need her in these difficult times for Europe, Joseph Daul, president of the European Peoples Party, told the convention before the vote was held.
Wiping away tears, Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would accept the post, and thanked the party for its support and trust in her, insisting she would give provide new impetus to the party as it attempts to win back millions of voters it has lost to rightwing populists and the Greens in recent years.
We should harness the boost this competition has given us, and use it to propel the partys success, Kramp-Karrenbauer said, as per a Guardian report.
What does this mean for Germany?
While acknowledging that the CDU was going through a difficult phase, Kramp-Karrenbauer argued that the partys dip in popularity was far less drastic than other conservative parties around the world. She even went so far as to call the Christian Democrats the “last unicorn in Europe”.
In a press conference in Berlin, on Wednesday, Kramp-Karrenbauer used her 20-minute speech to address the worry that has most divided the CDU over the past few years: Merkel’s September 2015 decision welcome refugees, and the political fallout that followed it.
“It’s not issue No. 1, but it’s there as an issue, and there’s no point not talking about it,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told reporters.
She added, “But if you think you can have the discussion with the idea that you can reverse what happened in 2015, we have to be honest … and say: What happened in 2015 is reality, it’s a fact. The second point is, and we have to make this very clear, is that very early after 2015, we worked to make sure that what happened in 2015 would not happen again, something I saw and helped work towards as state premier.”
Kramp-Karrenbauer, meanwhile, emphasized international solutions. She said that the trust in security “cannot be a question that only begins in a national context.”
“We in Germany live in an open Europe, we live in a Schengen Area, and it is our task to decide how this Schengen Area can be completed,” she said further, DW reported.
“How can it create internal safety, guarantee internal freedom, but organize external security? The question of how to protect ourselves from criminals is not one we can answer in Germany alone.”
Merkel’s legacy
Angela Merkel seems to have forged an unforgettable legacy. Since the past few days, German television has repeatedly been playing highlights from Merkels time as leader, including footage of her acceptance speech in 2000, when she appeared almost embarrassed to assume the role of the leader of one of Europes most powerful conservative forces.
Merkel has expressed her determination to continue as chancellor for the remaining three years of her term in office, and 56 percent of Germans support her decision to continue.
Merkel has been a giant not only within German politics but also in European and world affairs. She has single-handedly transformed the country during her tenure and played a massive role in resolving a seemingly endless string of international crises.
With the presence of Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merkel now has a chance to see a sort of satisfying end to a political career a career where Merkel is involved in an amicable transfer of power to a successor of her choice, who is likely to protect her legacy. In Kramp-Karrenbauer, she gets a partner who shares both her outlook and her style.
Merkel has been both chancellor of Germany and the leader of Europe. She steered Germany and the continent through successive crises as she helped her country in becoming Europes leading power for the first time since the two world wars.
Her decision to embrace more than a million asylum seekers ruptured the status quo. Outside Germany, the austerity she and her longtime finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble imposed on debtor countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal and, especially, Greece resulted in misery and resentment that continues till this day.
Merkels modest and moderate governance style, with an almost absent ideology and vanity, is the polar opposite of that of the strongmen who currently rule the world.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius