Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, left, is favourite to succeed Angela Merkel, who also nominated Ursula von der Leyen and Julia Klöckner for her new cabinet HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/REUTERSAngela Merkel warned immigrants to “integrate or face consequences” as she tried to win her party rank-and-file’s support for her coalition deal yesterday. Mrs Merkel received strong backing for the agreement at her annual party conference despite misgivings about handing the powerful finance ministry to the Social Democrats (SPD). Her choice of Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old rightwinger, among six nominees for her next cabinet, along with other new faces, helped to win over critics in her Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The conference in Berlin also overwhelmingly backed her choice of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55, as the next CDU secretary-general, a move seen as positioning the Saarland state premier as her preferred successor. Mrs Merkel’s chance of serving another four-year term now rests on the outcome of…

Source: The Times February 27, 2018 00:03 UTC