Germany's ruling Christian Democrat Union has chosen Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as its new party leader, ending Angela Merkel's 18-year reign. The CDU general secretary narrowly beat Friedrich Merz, a millionaire lawyer, in a run-off vote in Hamburg. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer, or AKK as she is also known, received 517 of 999 votes.
She was the last to arrive, but together with French president Emmanuel Macron one of the most popular leaders during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Her official aircraft had to turn back because of communications problems so German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a commercial flight from Madrid directly to Buenos Aires, a day late for the inauguration but not for the other activities including a couple of outings in the Argentine capital.
President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday urged a Franco-German push to make Europe a stronger and more confident global player that could prevent chaos on the world stage. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have used a series of war anniversaries to project unity as they push back against populist and nationalist forces in Europe and Donald Trump's isolationist America First stance.
Germany's years-long run of steady growth came to a screeching halt in the third quarter, official data showed this week, with a widely-expected bottleneck in the vital car industry matched by broader structural concerns.
Marking the end of an era, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's announced on Monday her last term in office. The dominant figure in German and European politics for more than a decade said she will step down as party leader of her Christian Democratic Union, CDU, in December and not seek reelection as chancellor in 2021.
The regional election in the German state of Hesse has delivered another political blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel with more voters fleeing to the left and right of the party. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and her coalition partner in Berlin, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), saw heavy losses in the state of Hesse where a regional election was held on Sunday.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Friday summoned Germany's ambassador in Caracas, Daniel Kriener, to deliver a note of protest for Berlin's express support to an International Criminal Court (ICC) enquiry into alleged human rights violations by the Nicolás Maduro regime.
A Sunday regional election in Germany is closely scrutinized since the ruling coalition's survival much hangs upon the outcome of a state vote. Even before the first voters set foot in Hesse's polling stations, it is widely accepted that what happens in Hesse will have consequences in Berlin. For the German government and perhaps even for the German leader herself.
Angela Merkel said on Wednesday in a statement at the European Union's summit in Brussels that she wants Britain to remain a close and trustworthy partner after splitting from the bloc.
Germany has urged UK's Theresa May to “take responsibility” for Brexit, as a crunch summit approaches with no sign of any breakthrough in negotiations. The Prime Minister was briefing senior ministers in an extended session of Cabinet ahead of Wednesday’s European Council meeting at which it had initially been hoped to conclude the UK’s withdrawal deal.