Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper laid the blame for Kramp-Karrenbauer’s failure at Merkel’s door, saying the party would struggle to reinvent itself while she was chancellor. “Angela Merkel wanted a fake successor who couldn’t outshine her,” it wrote. “The separation of chancellorship and party chair, the open question around who will become the candidate for chancellor weakens the CDU at a time… (when) Germany needs a strong CDU,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told Monday’s news conference. She said she would remain party chair until another chancellor candidate has been found and will stay on as defense minister. “Now’s the right time to provide impetus via economic and financial policy measures,” Merz said on Monday in a tweet.

Source: National Post February 11, 2020 15:33 UTC