![]() ![]() But just a year later, she engineered the dissolution of the Saarland regional parliament and fresh elections. In 2011, Kramp-Karrenbauer became Saarland's state premier after she forged a coalition with the Greens and the center-right Free Democrats. She was elected with a whopping 97 percent of the vote.įrom 2001 to 2004, Kramp-Karrenbauer was also Germany's first female regional interior minister - perhaps a sign of greater emphasis on law and order than is the case with Merkel. By May 2011, she had become the leader of the CDU's Saarland division, the first woman ever to hold that post. She joined the CDU in 1981, working her way up from the youth organization and through the local ranks of the party. Like most people in the region, AKK is Roman Catholic. Her father was a schoolteacher, her mother a housewife. Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, was born in the small hamlet of Völklingen and grew up in the equally diminutive Püttlingen - place names that epitomize provincial southwestern Germany. It was an unlikely rise for a politician who had long seemed destined to remain a regional leader. It was AKK who first diverted what was then known as the "Schulz train" firmly off the rails.Īlmost overnight, Kramp-Karrenbauer became a national political player. At the time, Social Democratic chancellor candidate Martin Schulz was riding high in public opinion polls. Kramp-Karrenbauer's star began to ascend in March 2017, when she led the CDU to a surprisingly easy victory in the state election with 40.7 percent of the vote. "There is no conservative or liberal union," she said. "There is only one CDU." Fast-forward 24 months and she's replacing her mentor Angela Merkel at the head of Germany's biggest, traditionally male-dominated, party.Īt the party conference in Hamburg on Friday, Kramp-Karrenbauer portrayed herself as the candidate of unity and continuity. Two years ago, AKK - as she's known for short - was the well-respected state premier of the tiny southwestern state of Saarland who was looking at a tough battle for re-election. The story of the new chairwoman of the Christian Democrats (CDU), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, reads like an object lesson in how important it is in politics to be in the right place at the right time. ![]()
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