查看原文

Angela Merkel does not want to complete her full term as German chancellor and is planning to resign before elections due in 2017, according to reports.

The German leader is aiming to become the first chancellor to leave of her own accord since 1949, and is interested in a new role as United Nations Secretary-General, or President of the European Council, Spiegel magazine reported.

Such a move would come as a major shock in Germany, where Mrs Merkel remains exceptionally popular with voters after almost nine years in power, and be felt across Europe, where her position as the continent's most powerful leader is undisputed.

In last year's elections, Mrs Merkel pledged she would serve a full term in office, and her spokesman and party colleagues have denied all speculation she may leave office early.

But Spiegel, which is usually well informed about German politics, claims it is well known among her colleagues that she does not want a fourth term, and is considering quitting ahead of the 2017 elections.

"Just about everyone around her, in her party or the cabinet, is convinced she will voluntarily leave office," the magazine said, in a special report ahead of Mrs Merkel's 60th birthday this week.

She is said to be keen to avoid following in the footsteps of former chancellors Helmut Kohl, who was once as unassailable as she is now but suffered a humiliating defeat when he tried to fight an election too many in 1998, and Konrad Adenauer, who was forced out in 1963 by a coup within his own party.

An arch-pragmatist, Mrs Merkel has no major policy or pet project to see through that would keep her in office. Mr Kohl was keen to see through the introduction of the euro.

The roles of UN Secretary-General and President of the European Council will both become available in 2017.

The appointment of a political figure of Mrs Merkel's stature could have a profound effect on either office, and lend it considerably more authority on the world stage.

In particular, if Mrs Merkel became President of the European Council, the body of national leaders that oversees the European Union, it could be seen as turning the job into a de facto President of the EU.

When the office was created in 2009, there was debate over how high-profile it should be. Tony Blair was, at one time, considered a candidate.

Suggestions that Mrs Merkel might want to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN Secretary-General first emerged in May, in a report in a Luxembourg newspaper that got little attention, and was denied by Mrs Merkel's spokesman.

A successor for Mr Ban will be chosen in 2016. By UN convention it is the turn of a European.

When asked in a recent television interview if she would like to be UN Secretary-General in 2018, Mrs Merkel replied: “That will certainly not happen.”

If Mrs Merkel does resign as German chancellor, her successor is widely expected to be Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.

When Mrs Merkel appointed her last year it was seen as the anointing of her eventual successor, but Ms von der Leyen has been a controversial choice, both criticised and ridiculed for introducing army crèches and flexible working hours to make the military more appealing as a career.