"It's bad for Germany when every important decision depends on how the SPD is feeling at that moment," Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of Merkel's CDU conservatives, told the Bild am Sonntag daily. READ ALSO: Merkel given reprieve as coalition partner votes not to splitBut new leadership duo Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken won the party's backing to steer a more leftwing course. Kramp-Karrenbauer, seen as Merkel's preferred successor, said she had hoped for a "clearer commitment" from the SPD to continue governing. "The CDU is loyal to the agreement and I expect the same from the new SPD leadership," she told Bild. "An SPD on a leftist course won't lead to a government on a leftist course," he tweeted.

Source: The Local December 09, 2019 08:26 UTC