Merkel decides her chosen successor 'isn't up to the job'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Christian Democratic Union chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer attend a parties board meeting in Berlin. Photo / AP

Chancellor Angela Merkel has given up hope on her heir apparent and is hunkering down in office in the face of growing turmoil in Germany's ruling party.

Since taking over as leader of the Christian Democratic Union in December, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has slid in opinion polls, upset the party with a failed effort to accelerate Merkel's exit, and on Monday oversaw the CDU's worst ever result in a national election.

All that has persuaded Merkel that Kramp-Karrenbauer may not be up to the job, according to two officials with knowledge of her thinking.

As a result, the Chancellor is more determined than ever to stay in power until her term ends in 2021, the officials said.

Kramp-Karrenbauer's failure to grasp the baton leaves Germany's governing party flailing as the leadership prepares to meet early next week to pore over the losses in the European Union election.

It's likely to be an awkward encounter between the Chancellor and her one-time protegee: AKK, as Kramp-Karrenbauer is known, convened the session without warning Merkel and the officials say it was designed to put pressure on the Chancellor to move aside. AKK has also alienated the Chancellor by reaching out to her conservative enemies within the CDU.

Merkel has resolved to spend no more political capital helping AKK, the officials said. But her ability to change the party's direction is limited now that she has handed over control of the machinery. The Chancellor is expecting to come under more pressure to step aside as AKK's political problems mount, they added.

The direction of the party is completely open again, one official said, and what happens after 2021 is entirely uncertain.

With AKK's chances of claiming the chancellorship fading, the contest to select the CDU's candidate for 2021 becomes a rerun of last year's succession battle.

Merkel's moderate faction thought they had won when AKK claimed the party leadership in December but the Chancellor's ability to influence that process will be much reduced second time around. That could open the door to the conservative Friedrich Merz or the liberal Armin Laschet.

AKK's approval rating slipped three points to 36 per cent in the latest poll by public broadcaster ARD, released on May 2. That's the lowest since she became party leader and almost 20 points behind Merkel.

AKK was supposed to provide fresh leadership and an electoral bounce for the CDU after 18 years of Merkel's leadership. Instead, support for the party and its Bavarian sister the CSU fell seven percentage points in the EU election, to below 30 per cent. Many voters defected to the Greens, which doubled their backing to more than 20 per cent.

AKK has proved prone to stumbles.

An off-colour joke about transsexuals at a local festival put moderates on alert. Her latest mistake came in the aftermath of the election.

When a YouTube video attacking the CDU became a viral sensation, AKK accused the 70 web activists who endorsed the clip of wielding undue influence and was forced onto the defensive following a wave of criticism.

She tweeted yesterday that it was "absurd to accuse me of wanting to regulate statements of opinion".

If nothing else, the episode highlighted the CDU's desperate attempts to reach younger voters with its own forays into the digital realm. As of today, the video by a blue-haired moderator known as Rezo has been viewed more than 12 million times since it hit the web on May 18.

- Bloomberg