Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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On December 6, Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) held its party meeting to elect a leader to replace Angela Merkel when she steps down. Many observers had anticipated that Friedrich Merz, a politician and lobbyist who works with BlackRock, an American investment cooperation, would become Ms. Merkel’s successor.Mr. Merz was supported by the anti-Merkel camp within the party, especially by those who backed a radical neoliberal agenda and expressed their opposition towards Ms. Merkel’s liberal migration and refugee policies. While many of Mr. Merz’s supporters already imagined a “new, conservative revolution”, leading media outlets such as Der Spiegel also hyped the candidate. Jens Spahn, Germany’s current Health Minister, was another candidate in the race.However, both men lost the vote. The 56-year-old Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer — media already calls her ‘AKK’ — was elected the new leader. She is set to lead the CDU into the next federal election in 2021. The most powerful woman in the world, as Ms. Merkel has been described regularly, will be replaced by a woman. Unsurprisingly, AKK was also Ms. Merkel’s favourite.
