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Germany greatly benefits from the rules-based global order and should do more to secure its success, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a speech delivered Thursday at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. Kramp-Karrenbauer noted that allies are increasingly asking for Berlin to play a proactive role in global security. “A country of our size, with our economic and technological power, our geostrategic position and global interests, cannot just stand on the sidelines and watch,” she said. “Germany must participate in international debates and drive them forward.” […] In an earlier interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, she urged Berlin to...

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is to be Germany’s new defense minister, officials have confirmed. The reports come after the current defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, was voted EU Commission President on Monday. Kramp-Karrenbauer, also known by her initials AKK, succeeded Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in December. The move would come as a surprise, as many had expected Health Minister Jens Spahn, who was passed over for party leader, to become defense chief. It was doubly surprisingly because Kramp-Karrenbauer had previously said she would forgo a ministerial post in favor of concentrating on party leadership. …

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a 56-year-old career politician committed to the status quo, has been chosen to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Kramp-Karrenbauer — often referred to as "Mini-Merkel" or "Merkel 2.0" because many view her as Merkel's clone — won by just 35 votes (517 to 482) in a second-round run-off against her main opponent, a conservative named Friedrich Merz, at a CDU conference in Hamburg on December 7. Kramp-Karrenbauer's extremely narrow victory (51.7% to 48.2%) revealed a party split down the middle. Merz had pledged to pull the CDU back to its conservative...

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has been elected leader of Germany's ruling Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party, bringing Angela Merkel's 18 years at the helm to an end. As the party's general secretary, Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer was favourite to take over when Mrs Merkel announced her retirement in October. But she clinched only a narrow victory over Friedrich Merz, a long-time Merkel rival, in a run-off vote in Hamburg, with 51.8% of the vote. Now the head of Germany's largest party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, could become the next German chancellor.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States should consider banning from their ports Russian ships originating from the Sea of Azov after Russia captured three Ukrainian vessels there, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's protege said on Friday. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is leading the race to succeed Merkel as leader of her ruling conservatives, also said Germany must be ready to take more responsibility in foreign policy and to spend more on defense. Russia seized the Ukrainian vessels and their crews on Sunday near Crimea, the Ukrainian region which Moscow annexed in 2014, over what it said was their...

The firm favourite appears to be from Merkel’s own Christian Democrats Party (CDU) – its secretary-general Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Kramp-Karrenbauer has been a close ally of her embattled leader, who faced a disastrous result at the ballot box recently. Today, CDU sources said CDU Kramp-Karrenbauer she will put herself forward for the top job at the party’s conference in Hamburg in December. Born in 1962, Merkel’s potential successor has been dubbed “AKK” in the German media and became the first woman ever to govern the German state of Saarland.

As a language, German has a near-unique quality to sum up a combination of feelings, conditions and elements in a single word. Add “umbehagen” to a list that would most certainly include zeitgeist, leitmotif and doppelganger. Umbehagen describes the angst, discomfort and malaise being experienced by Germans at changing social and political scenes — the arrival and settlement of more than a million refugees from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere would be one strand of this. And so too would be the rise of the right and Alternative for Germany (AfD), concerns over security and terror, or unsettling and disjointed noises...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has nominated Saarland State Premier Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to be the CDU's next secretary general. She will take over from Peter Tauber, who is stepping down due to health reasons.

Angela Merkel on Monday tapped the popular female premier of Germany's tiny Saarland state to take over as secretary general of her conservative party, fuelling speculation the veteran chancellor is lining up her successor. At a joint Berlin press conference, Merkel said she was "moved" that close confidante Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55, would take the reins from her right-hand man Peter Tauber at "a difficult time" for their Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. The surprise reshuffle comes after Tauber said at the weekend he was stepping down for health reasons, and with Merkel struggling to form a new government after a...

A poll published on Monday by the newspaper Bild put the Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 16 percent, showing that they are currently more popular than the Social Democrats (SPD). The poll, conducted by INSA, put the AfD at 16 percent, just ahead of the SPD at 15.5 percent. The poll marks the lowest support ever achieved by the SPD, traditionally one of the two major parties of German politics. According to the poll, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats are the most popular party in the country and would secure 32 percent of the vote were elections to be held tomorrow....