Whoever takes over her role will acquire to cope with Germany’s slide to the right – which might mean a deal with the AfDOver the past three years I’ve received many calls from the British media asking me whether Angela Merkel had finally received a knockout blow. And I’ve always replied: she’s down but not out. Now,however, she’s down and out. Her party’s top brass acquire forced her to announce that she won’t be running for the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at their conference in December. At the time of writing, and she wants to remain chancellor. But by this time next year at the very latest,she’ll be out of that job, too.
Sunday’s elections in the state of Hesse were the final straw. The CDU lost 11.7 percentage points of the votes in a contest dominated by national issues. Some 50% of voters polled said they wanted to send a “protest message” to Berlin. The message has been received. Merkel’s party is scrambling to abandon her. Related: German chancellor Angela Merkel will not seek re-election in 2021 Related: Populism is not the whole record – European politics is rewiring itself | Cas Mudde Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com