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Merkel's protegee steps down after Thuringia fiasco

Berlin, Feb 10 (EFE/EPA).- (Camera: Hayoung Jeon) Annegret Kamp-Karrenbauer, Angela Merkel's successor as head of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, announced Monday she was stepping down and renounced her candidacy for Chancellor, a role she had been tipped to take on. AKK, as she is commonly known, told press she would step down after party leadership elections. FOOTAGE OF ANNEGRET KAMP-KARRENBAUER.Translation:"The CDU board of directors today unanimously supported the decision last Friday of the praesidium on the situation in Thuringia. That is my position: no approach, no cooperation with the Afd or Die Linke. The Afd is against everything that makes us CDU. Any approach to Afd weakens the CDU. ""That task is specifically mine as president of the CDU. With the separation of the presidency of the party and the Chancellery, we have abandoned an experienced practice. It has been shown since the earliest of times that it is accompanied by a question about leadership, that is, the question about the candidacy for the Chancellery. This question, despite two party conventions, has not been silenced and, by the will of some, it will not be silenced in the future. The separation of the Chancellery and the presidency of the party, the question about the candidacy, weakens the CDU in a phase of politics in Germany in which a strong CDU is needed. Nearly two years ago, the party congress elected me as its secretary-general. Then I left my post as minister President of Saarland to put myself at the service of the party. That was then and is still my maxim, because, like others, I have, like many others, much to thank this CDU for. I already knew then that this would be a hard time and the last two years have confirmed it. For all this, and intending to strengthen the CDU, I shared today with the praesidium and the party's board, my decision. I will not apply for the chancellery. I will direct, as I have announced, the process for choosing a candidate."