Angela Merkel To Stand Fourth Term As German Chancellor

MEP: Angela Merkel, Germany’s centre-right Chancellor has announced she will run for a fourth term in a crucial national election next September.

Merkel said the decision had not been easy to make because of the complex challenges she will face and “absurd” expectations Germany could take a world leadership role when Barack Obama leaves office.

Ms. Merkel added that this step was “anything but trivial,” for her country, for her party and for herself.

Ms. Merkel, 62, has served 11 years as chancellor. She is the first woman and the first person raised in Communist East Germany to hold the post.

Speaking at a meeting of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, she stressed she expected her toughest campaign to date, and vowed to “fight for our values and our way of life”.

Merkel will be looked to for answers to may current challenges, including how to shape relations with Europe and the United States under Donald Trump, how the European Union will manage a Brexit and dealing with Russian aggression.

The continuing influx of refugees into Europe as well as the ongoing euro crisis are among the major issues that would dominate her next term.

Since coming to power in 2005, Ms. Merkel has gradually acquired a political stature commensurate with the power of her country, Europe’s largest economy and its most populous nation, with about 81 million inhabitants.