Having run the biggest EU economy since 2005, Merkel last year stood down as party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a post now held by her preferred successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. "Today is the day I would like to thank you for supporting my Facebook page in great numbers," Merkel said. "You know I am no longer CDU leader, so I will now close my Facebook page." Merkel, who is not on Twitter, had only occasionally used the Facebook page. As her favourite quotation, Facebook lists a sentence from post-war CDU chancellor Konrad Adenauer: "Politics is not about just being right, but about being proven right in the end."

Source: The Local February 01, 2019 16:52 UTC