Ever since Angela Merkel's protege, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, resigned as minister of defense and Merkel's hand-picked successor as leader of the CDU 11 months ago after defying Merkel's ban on working with the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany) party (the two parties worked together to install a conservative, pro-business candidate as premier), Germany, and its European allies, have been eagerly anticipating the election of her successor.
The wait is now over. On Saturday, Armin Laschet, prime minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has officially been elected to lead the CDU.
With Merkel set to retire at the end of the year, Laschet has roughly 10 months to convince Germans that he could be a responsible steward, since - as he made clear in his first post-election remarks - "continuity" is the name of the game.
Foreign Policy magazine reports that "Laschet has warned against demonizing Putin for his annexation of Crimea, criticized Washington for supporting rebels trying to overthrow Assad, and voiced support for deepening the relationship with Beijing."
[FULL STORY HERE]
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