Former Chancellor Angela Merkel this month left a major think tank directly tied to her political party, the Christian Democrats (CDU). 

A spokesman for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation on Friday confirmed that Merkel had made clear last week at a meeting that she would no longer be available for the influential 55-person oversight board or for future members' meetings. 

It's the latest of several steps taken by Merkel, a four-term chancellor who left office in 2021, to withdraw almost completely from front-line politics.

The think tank had made no mention on December 1, when announcing the re-election of chairman Norbert Lammert and other senior members in a press release, that probably the most famous member of the foundation was leaving.

The organization confirmed the development after it was first reported in this week's edition of Der Spiegel news magazine, which goes on sale in print on Saturday. 

What is the Konrad Adenauer Foundation? 

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a think tank that's directly tied to the Christian Democrats but is also nominally independent from the party for legal reasons. 

It's named after Germany's first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer of the CDU, who was in power when it was founded in 1955. 

Each major party with parliamentary representation in Germany can and does set up such an organization.

They are primarily state-funded. They are meant to provide and promote political education, research and insight at home and abroad. The groups tend to see themselves as influential in molding the intellectual and policy agenda of their parties.

Merkel said she had simply 'grown out of the role' 

Der Spiegel cited people close to Merkel as saying that the former chancellor had said "I have simply grown out of this role" when explaining her decision. 

According to the weekly, Merkel's entourage said Merkel was not trying to send any kind of message against the foundation or her party. They said she simply wanted to mold a new life that was completely free of political obligations. 

To retain a position on the foundation's board, regular attendance at its meetings is required.

KAS has only ever made one exception to this rule, for another longstanding former chancellor, Helmut Kohl, who suffered from severely declining health in the years before his death.

Simply seeking solitude, or at odds with new leadership? 

Merkel has said several times before and since quitting as chancellor that she intended to withdraw from front-line politics after leaving office. However, the extent to which she's cutting ties has raised eyebrows in some quarters. 

Der Spiegel cited one CDU politician, albeing speaking off the record, as describing it as a "break" with the party, and another calling it an "ice age." 

Merkel gave up the chairmanship of the CDU several years before quitting as chancellor, soon after announcing she would not run again in 2021. She also started to limit her public appearances to those necessary for a chancellor in her last term, for instance more often skipping partisan events like campaign rallies.

She's still a CDU member, quite probably still its best known member outside Germany. 

She announced soon after leaving office that she would be working on a memoir with a long-serving aide, Beate Baumann.

But her difficult past with current CDU leader, Friedrich Merz, has led to frequent speculation about how close to the party she remains, or will remain.

Merkel and Merz effectively vied for control of the CDU after Helmut Kohl's departure. Merkel won the struggle and Merz ultimately left politics, only to return once it was clear Merkel was leaving. 

He has been trying to position the CDU, now in opposition, somewhat further to the right since taking up the party leadership. Many considered Merkel a rather centrist CDU leader.

The pair's game of musical chairs continued last week: As Merkel left the Konrad Adenauer Foundation board, Merz was able to join it. 

That development was noted by the think tank in its press release.

msh/ss (AFP, dpa) 

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