Merkel won't be a 'lame duck,' says parliamentary president
Jefferson Chase Berlin
October 29, 2018
On Conflict Zone, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble discussed the chancellor's bombshell decision not to seek re-election. It was a "tectonic change," but he predicted Merkel would see out her term.
Image: DW/M. Martin
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Wolfgang Schäuble on Conflict Zone
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"She's taken the right decision at the right time."
The president of the German parliament, the Bundestag, is adamant that Chancellor Angela Merkel will see out her fourth term in office until it expires in 2021.
Wolfgang Schäuble told Tim Sebastian on DW's Conflict Zone political talk show that Merkel's decision not to seek further terms as either the chair of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or chancellor did not leave her "too wounded" to lead the country until the end of the current legislative period.
"Once elected as chancellor, you can only be thrown out without your own agreement if there is a majority in parliament who elects another chancellor," Schäuble said. "That's unthinkable in this parliament. So her position is constitutionally strong."
Schäuble's word carries particular weight as one of the most experienced and respected leaders in the CDU and as the senior figure in the Bundestag. It's the same institution with which Merkel must continue to work now that her political days are numbered.
'Tectonic change'
Two of her prominent rivals, Health Minister Jens Spahn and Friedrich Merz, as well as her ally Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, have announced that they will seek to succeed her as party chair at the CDU conference in early December. Nonetheless, Schäuble said Merkel's position remained tenable.
"The party enjoys having the chancellor as a member instead of as a member of another party," Schäuble said. "I think the party will be fine with this."
When asked for the reason for the relatively sudden decline of Merkel, a leader often regarded as invulnerable in the past, Schäuble responded: "Nobody knows." He interpreted it as a sign of the times.
"Our Western system of democracy, the rule of law and parliamentarianism, is under stress," the Bundestag president explained, moving on to reference Brexit. "Look what happened in the UK, the (point of) origin of modern parliamentarianism. The most important decision of this century moved from Westminster to a referendum. Crazy."
Schäuble added that there was volatility all over the European Union and spoke of a "tectonic change" in democracy itself. This, in turn, he attributed to a "disruption" in traditional means of communication by "new technologies."
Schäuble and Merkel's relationship goes back a long wayImage: Reuters/W. Rattay
Not going anywhere
Schäuble, who was once tipped as a successor to former chancellor and CDU icon Helmut Kohl, but who lost a power struggle at the start of the millennium with Merkel, praised her tenure as Germany's leader as "extraordinary successful." And he was at pains to dispute the idea that Merkel's lame duck status left her significantly weakened as a leader.
Schäuble did concede that ups and downs were part of human life and "she's going down." But he sought to argue that the CDU would rally around Merkel now that she has set an exit date.
"She's wounded, and she's strong — both together," Schäuble said. "We agree in my party that we will do what we can to avoid the impression of [her being a] lame duck."
Schäuble acknowledged that the succession battle had begun, but said it wouldn't be "that bloody." And he refused to comment on Merkel's likely replacement.
Angela Merkel's potential successors as chancellor
Angela Merkel will be giving up her seat as CDU leader but remain chancellor – likely until the next federal election in 2021. DW examines her potential successors as CDU chief and German chancellor.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Jensen
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, CDU
Kramp-Karrenbauer, also known as AKK, was Merkel's choice to become general secretary of the CDU in 2018. She is reputedly Merkel's pick as a successor as party leader. AKK headed a CDU-SPD coalition as state premier in the small southwestern state of Saarland before becoming the CDU's general secretary. She is considered a moderate who would continue Merkel's centrist policies.
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
Jens Spahn, CDU
The 38-year-old is the youngest and most overtly determined Merkel usurper. He entered the Bundestag in 2002 and became Germany's health minister in 2018. Spahn, who is openly gay, is popular in the CDU's conservative wing. He opposes limited dual citizenship for young foreigners, criticized attempts to loosen laws on advertising abortions and called for banning the Burqa in public.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Friedrich Merz, CDU
The former leader of the CDU/CSU grouping in the Bundestag has been out of frontline politics since leaving the Bundestag in 2009. But the 62-year-old announced his intention to replace Merkel within hours of the news that she would be stepping down. Merz reportedly fell out with Merkel after she replaced him as CDU/CSU group leader in 2002. He has been a chairman at Blackrock since 2016.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Armin Laschet, CDU
Laschet became state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2017. His win marked a major defeat for Social Democrats in Germany's 18 million-strong "coal" state. He has ruled out running as CDU head while Merkel remains chancellor. But he has hinted that he may announce his candidacy once Merkel has stood down, which would make it possible to occupy both posts simultaneously.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Julia Klöckner, CDU
Klöckner became agriculture minister in 2018 and has been CDU chief in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2011. In 1995, before entering politics, she became Germany's "Wine Queen." Like Spahn, she belongs to the CDU's conservative wing. She raised eyebrows in 2016 when she proposed an alternative plan to Merkel's refugee policy.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Peter Altmaier, CDU
Altmeier, known as "Merkel's bodyguard," has supported the chancellor's centrist policy platform on multiple fronts. Originally from Saarland, Altmaier first worked for the European Union before entering the Bundestag in 1994. The former environment minister turned economy minister is renowned for his kitchen diplomacy and being a stickler for policy detail.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
Ursula von der Leyen, CDU
Von der Leyen became defense minister in 2013 after serving a stint as labor minister. Despite her reform efforts, defense spending remains stubbornly low and the military continues to suffer from widespread equipment shortages. Von der Leyen, who studied in the United States and Britain, supports a larger role for Germany abroad and improving links between national armies in the European Union.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/M. Kappeler
Volker Bouffier, CDU
Volker Bouffier has been the premier of the central state of Hesse since 2010. He formerly served as the state's interior minister and has twice "won" Big Brother awards from German data privacy advocates for propagating closer surveillance methods by police. The 66-year-old currently heads a CDU-Greens state government in Hesse and is a deputy chairperson in the national CDU executive.
Image: Reuters
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Rise of right
Asked to discuss the other repercussions from Sunday's regional election in Hesse, which preceded Merkel's announcement, Schäuble said the "worst thing" was that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was now represented in all 16 state parliaments as well as the Bundestag.
But he also highlighted what he characterized as a slowing of the right-wing populists' momentum. And he bristled at the idea that CDU policies, particularly on migration, opened the door for the AfD. Citing other countries like Sweden, he said having a prominent far-right party was the norm in Europe.
"Seventy years after the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany, it seems like we move to toward something like European normality," Schäuble said. "I don't like it, but it's a matter of fact."
He defended Merkel and the CDU's welcoming policy toward the hundreds of thousands of migrants in 2015 as a "huge achievement" that had earned Germany respect around the world. And he stressed that although the AfD took around 13 percent of the vote both in Hesse and countrywide, most Germans didn't support the AfD.
"Germany will never ever relapse into nationalism," Schäuble said. "The broad majority of German people will never move toward nationalism, I'm quite sure."
You can watch the complete interview with Wolfgang Schäuble on DW's Conflict Zone at 1730 UTC Wednesday.
Angela Merkel: Conquerer of political rivals
Angela Merkel has long shown a knack for neutralizing or sidelining politicians who got in her way. This applies as much to members of her own party as to rivals in other parties.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ANP/R. De Waal
'Kohl's girl' leaves moniker behind
Longtime Chancellor Helmut Kohl gave Merkel her first cabinet post and facilitated her rise. After losing the chancellorship in 1998, his onetime acolyte turned her back and that of their Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on him. Merkel, then CDU secretary general, said Kohl, who had accepted a cash donation from sources he refused to reveal, had hurt the party. The CDU moved on without him.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Altwein
Gerhard Schröder - end of a political career
Merkel was Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's undoing in the 2005 election, though his own vanity was also to blame. His Social Democrats (SPD) finished one point behind her conservative CDU/CSU alliance. On TV with Merkel and other party heads, Schröder insisted Germans had made clear they wanted him to stay. The others rebuffed his apparently absurd claim. She became chancellor. He quit politics.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frank-Walter Steinmeier - ever the partner
Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been Germany's foreign minister, serving under Merkel, for nearly four years when the Social Democrat challenged her in the 2009 election. Many people said the SPD's heavy defeat was because of his lack of a popular touch. But he bounced back and in 2013 returned as the country's top diplomat, again with Merkel as the boss. He became Germany's president in March 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kembowski
Günther Oettinger - out of the way
Eliminating competitors doesn't always mean forcing them off the political scene. Merkel dispatched her party colleague and potential rival Günther Oettinger, premier of the state of Baden-Württemberg, to a top job in the European Commission in 2010. Oettinger had no track record in EU politics and even then was known for sticking his foot in his mouth. He is on his third position as commissioner.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Seeger
Roland Koch - left out in the cold
Roland Koch was known in some parts for his friendship with the Dalai Lama, in others for collecting millions of signatures to catapult the government's plans for dual citizenship. The state premier of Hesse was part of a clique of CDU men who never anticipated Merkel's rise, and then were sure they'd outlast her. Koch waited in vain to be offered a job in Berlin. In the end, she outlasted him.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Christian Wulff - an unfortunate president
Christian Wulff wasn't Merkel's first pick for president, but left in a pinch when Horst Köhler resigned in 2010, party leaders wouldn't agree to Ursula von der Leyen, now defense minister. The choice of Wulff, the CDU state premier of Lower Saxony who had been rumored to be unhappy in his position, came as a surprise to him, too. He resigned over corruption charges and was later acquitted.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Peer Steinbrück - right man, wrong time
Merkel had reached the peak of her career by the time the SPD decided Peer Steinbrück should run against her in the 2013 election. She was unchallenged in her party and had come to dominate managing the euro and debt crisis in Brussels. Steinbrück, a finance minister under Merkel and ex-state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, had the expertise to be chancellor, but he had little chance.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Friedrich Merz — back again
Friedrich Merz was ousted by Merkel as the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary party in 2002. He ended up leaving the Bundestag in 2009 and later became the chair of the world's biggest wealth manager, BlackRock. When Merkel announced her decision to step down as the head of the CDU, Merz made a surprising return to the German political scene and threw his hat in the ring to replace her.
