Merkel Pressured by Her Successor to Resign After EU Election
- June 2 party meeting was to signal beginning of Merkel exit
- AKK proposed Merkel to run for presidency of EU Council
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Angela Merkel is feeling pressure from her chosen successor to quit as German chancellor after this month’s elections for the European parliament, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
With Merkel’s Christian Democrats expected to lose ground in the May 26 vote, their leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, sent a message to Merkel urging her to resign and called a party conference for June 2 in order to try to force her hand, one of the people said. AKK, as Kramp-Karrenbauer is known, did not warn Merkel of the conference and suggested she should run for the presidency of the European leaders council, the person said.