Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany’s Defense Minister and Angela Merkel’s protégé, is resigning as leader of the Chancellor’s CDU party and will not seek to compete for the country’s top job in the next election.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, or AKK, as she likes to be known, made headlines on Monday by announcing that she will not lead the Christian Democrats (CDU), according to German media citing party spokesman. Likewise, it will be someone else to run for Chancellor in the next election.
AKK, who will still keep the position of Defense Minister, will arrange the selection of a candidate by summer. She will give up the leadership as soon as she makes sure that the CDU is prepared for future, the spokesman added.
Kramp-Karrenbauer was picked as CDU chief back in 2018, being widely seen as Merkel’s potential successor. But a series of political scandals made critics argue that the 57-year-old politician isn’t up to the top job.
