Just over a year ago, the New York Times was calling Angela Merkel “the reluctant leader of the west”. Now Ms Merkel is on her way out as the leader of Germany. Her decision to stand down as chair of the Christian Democratic Union sets up a battle for the leadership of the German centre-right. And although Ms Merkel plans to stay on as chancellor until 2021, the weakness of her governing coalition means that it is also possible she will be out of the top job within months.
就在一年多之前，《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》(New York Times)還把安格拉?默克爾(Angela Merkel)稱為“不愿領(lǐng)頭的西方領(lǐng)袖”。而如今，默克爾將會(huì)連德國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都不是。她決定不尋求連任基督教民主聯(lián)盟黨（CDU，簡稱：基民盟）主席一職，這將引發(fā)一場德國中右翼領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的爭奪戰(zhàn)。盡管默克爾計(jì)劃留任總理職務(wù)至2021年，但其執(zhí)政聯(lián)盟的弱勢意味著，她也有可能在幾個(gè)月內(nèi)失去最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)職位。