Political earthquake in Germany. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since the end of 2018 and heir in pectore of Angela Merkel, has decided not to stand as a candidate in the 2021 federal elections and, according to German media, soon he will resign as party leader.
The reversal comes in the wake of the controversies related to what happened in country of Thuringia, Where the CDU has allied itself with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland to get the Liberal Thomas Kemmerich elected governor. The marriage of interest proved to be political suicide: the AfD exponents are accused by many of being racist and close to neo-Nazi groups, which is why in the past the Christian Democrats had ruled out any form of collaboration with them on several occasions. Merkel was forced to intervene personally and, to correct the error, she imposed Kemmerich's resignation.
But the step back by the new governor was not enough to reduce tension in the Cdu, which has been experiencing furious controversies for days. In the end, Kramp-Karrenbauer's head also had to fall, who in stepping aside spoke of the unclear positions of certain party members vis-à-vis Afd and the left-wing Die Linke party.
In any case, according to some commentators, the mess in Thuringia was only a pretext used by the Christian Democrats to get rid of a leader who had long been considered inadequate, too weak to hold the different souls of the party together.
