Merkel won’t seek a 5th term as German chancellor

BERLIN (AP) — Angela Merkel set off Monday on what could be a three-year countdown to the end of her leadership of Germany, a stint that has made her the European Union’s longest-serving leader and a key figure in facing the continent’s many crises.

Merkel announced that she will give up the leadership of her conservative Christian Democratic Union in December and won’t stand for a fifth term as chancellor — signalling the beginning of the end at the helm for the woman many had labeled the “leader of the free world.”

That’s a title she herself objected to, saying leadership is never up to one person or country. But she has been a stalwart face of Western democracy through turbulent times, including the European debt crisis, the migrant influx of 2015, Britain’s decision to leave the EU and escalating trade tensions with the United States.

With her announcement, she indicated she has no intention of shirking from the “major foreign policy challenges” ahead, suggesting by taking the question of her future out of the picture her often rancorous coalition might govern better.

“With this decision, I am trying to contribute to allowing the government to concentrate its strength, finally, on governing well — and people rightly demand that,” Merkel said.

Merkel, 64, has led the CDU since 2000 and Germany since 2005. She governs Germany in a “grand coalition” of what traditionally has been the country’s biggest parties — the CDU, Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats.

She announced her decision the day after voters punished both her CDU and the Social Democrats in an election in the central state of Hesse.

It came two weeks after a similar debacle for the CSU and Social Democrats in neighbouring Bavaria.

Her announcement comes amid growing concerns about far-right nationalist parties making inroads in Europe, including Germany.

Sunday’s result in Hesse means that the Alternative for Germany party now holds seats in every state legislature and federal parliament.

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