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BERLIN — Millions of Germans will head to the polls in a federal election on Sunday that will determine who will succeed Angela Merkel after 16 years as Germany's chancellor. According to the latest polls, Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party is narrowly ahead of Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union. They're closely followed by the Greens, the far-right Alternative for Germany and the libertarian Free Democratic Party, all holding onto double-digit poll numbers going into Sunday's election. Josef Janning, a senior associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, says the...

A survey pitting outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel against current French President Emmanuel Macron for the head of the European Commission has suggested that many EU countries would support a Merkel presidency. The European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR) survey asked residents of 12 European Union countries if they would support Mrs Merkel or Mr Macron in a theoretical race if the pair were to face off for the “president of the EU” role.

After 15 years of “Merkelism” the German chancellor’s neutral, consensus-building approach means many Europeans accept her country as the EU’s leader – but post-Angela Merkel Berlin will have to radically change tack, according to a study.... ...Even countries with very different policies, such as Spain (45%) and non-eurozone Hungary (50%), backed German economic leadership...Support for Berlin as a potential geopolitical leader, however, was markedly low. Only 25% of respondents felt Germany should handle the EU’s relationship with the US, for example, with support for Berlin taking the lead in the bloc’s dealings with Russia (20%) and China (17%) even lower....

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday described herself as a feminist, saying her position on equality between men and women had developed over the years. “Essentially, it’s about the fact that men and women are equal, in the sense of participation in society and in life in general. And in that sense I can say, ‘yes, I’m a feminist’,” Merkel told reporters after a meeting with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “For me, the word ‘feminism’ is linked to a specific movement which has fought a great deal to put these issues on society’s agenda,” said Germany’s first woman leader....

The German Ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, has died suddenly less than two weeks after taking up the job in Beijing. The 54-year-old’s death was confirmed by Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Monday. Hecker, who was a former foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, began his posting on Aug. 24. Hecker had arrived in Beijing on Aug 1. with his wife and three children, according to German outlet Deutsche Welle. The details surrounding his death have not yet been disclosed. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said there was no indication Hacker’s death was linked to his diplomatic role.

Germany is working “intensively” to evacuate Afghan staff ahead of a looming deadline, Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers in the Bundestag on Wednesday. Merkel’s remarks came after US President Joe Biden ruled out extending the deadline for evacuations beyond August 31. German military aircraft have so far rescued over 4,600 people including German citizens and local support workers, according to the German Defense Ministry. Merkel said that Germany would still try to help Afghans who worked with its soldiers and aid organizations and wish to leave Afghanistan even after the deadline. “The end of the air bridge in a few...

Call it the white house’s dream scenario: In the end, the voters don’t blame Joe Biden. The president’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan simply aligns him with everyone else who has given up on the notion that the military could mold a fractious country into a stable democratic ally. The administration is hoping that grisly images of desperate Afghans clinging to a C-17 fade, replaced by...

The withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan is the "biggest debacle" that NATO has suffered since its founding, the head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, Armin Laschet, said on Monday. Laschet said focus at the moment must be on the German military's evacuation operation from Afghanistan."But we will talk about the causes and conclusions drawn after this rescue mission -- a no holds barred analysis of errors in Germany, with our allies and in the international community.”

As more Afghan provinces fall into the hands of the Taliban, a debate on migration is underway in the European Union, with Germany and the Netherlands stopping deportations of failed Afghan asylum-seekers, and other countries asking for deportations to continue. Minister of State at Germany’s Foreign Ministry, Niels Annen, told Germany’s Funke Mediengruppe Thursday that it was “naïve” to believe that the advance of the Taliban and the violence in Afghanistan would have no consequences for migration policy “We will feel the effects in Germany as well, even if not in the coming weeks,” Annen said. An EU official on...

Top members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government are lobbying for the implementation of vaccine passports in a supposed bid to increase takeup of the jab throughout the country. While Angela Merkel has previously ruled out making coronavirus vaccines mandatory in Germany, members of her government, including her chief of staff Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn, are calling for increased restrictions on the unvaccinated. Neither official has openly committed to the idea of introducing a vaccine passport, as has been rolled out in France, however, they have both called for increased access to public venues for citizens who...

Hillary Clinton and top congressional Republicans Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy will join President Biden on Thursday for a small dinner party with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It’s unclear if Clinton will speak to reporters during her return to the White House — as high-profile visitors sometimes do on the driveway. The meal in the State Dining Room is closed to reporters. Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, is not on the 25-person guest list — nor are the top Democrats in Congress. As first lady, Clinton lived in the executive mansion for eight years, but failed to get...

The United States and Germany have signed the Washington Declaration on common principles as a result of meeting. Its text is published on the White House website. According to the Declaration, Washington and Berlin are committed to protecting the 'open world'. This document confirms the commitment to the democratic principles that underlie both countries, as well as how they will apply them. The declaration states that all nations must be free from foreign interference in determining their political system. According to the document, Germany and the United States also promise build a united, free and peaceful Europe, support NATO and...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Washington on Wednesday for what will in all likelihood be her last official visit to the US before her almost 16-year term in office ends after the September federal election. Although the Merkel era is coming to an end, the trip is being seen as marking a new beginning in German-US relations following the tensions between Berlin and Washington under the administration of Donald Trump. However, although new US President Joe Biden has vowed to steer his country away from the far more unilateral "America First" course of his predecessor, he and Merkel will...

With Angela Merkel preparing to exit the international stage, the longest-serving leader of the Group of Seven is Canada’s Justin Trudeau. While he is positioning himself as the new elder statesman, no one sees him owning the role in the way the German chancellor did. Joe Biden has decades of experience on the international stage, even if he’s new to the U.S. presidency. France’s Emmanuel Macron has aggressively positioned himself as Merkel’s heir in Europe (she will step down after an election in September) and Italy’s Mario Draghi, with his years of experience running the European Central Bank, is used...

A number of staff members had been affected and the hotel has been closed for deep cleaning following discussions with Public Health England (PHE).A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also confirmed Ms Merkel would still be attending the summit.

A poll on global leadership shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the leader most trusted to lead the world over President Joe Biden. A Pew Research survey reported 77 percent of those polled across 16 countries express confidence in Merkel’s international leadership. Biden came in second with 74 percent and 63 percent placed their trust in French President Emmanuel Macron.

US National Security Agency used a partnership with Denmark's foreign intelligence to spy on senior officials, according to Danish state broadcaster DR The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service from 2015 into NSA's role in the partnership The NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including German chancellor Angela Merkel The internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service was launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden's leaks In Washington, the NSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment and...

BERLIN (AP) — The Biden administration will impose sanctions on a number of Russian ships and companies for their role in the construction of a controversial European pipeline project but will waive similar penalties on a German firm and its chief executive, according to congressional aides and the German government, which welcomed the move.

BERLIN (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed her country’s difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic — from the slow vaccine rollout to the back-and-forth over lockdown rules — on “a tendency toward perfectionism” and called for greater flexibility to tackle the latest surge in cases. In a lengthy television interview with public broadcaster ARD late Sunday, Merkel acknowledged that mistakes were made by her government, including on plans for an Easter lockdown.

BERLIN (AP) – German authorities are expected to extend lockdown measures again on Monday and possibly tighten some restrictions as they face a steady rise in new coronavirus infections. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors, who in highly decentralized Germany are responsible for imposing and lifting restrictions, are holding a videoconference nearly three weeks after they agreed a several-step plan paving the way to relax some rules.