Merkel successor puts pressure on her to quit

Bloomberg

Angela Merkel is feeling pressure from her chosen successor to quit as German chancellor after this month’s elections for the European parliament, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
With Merkel’s Christian Democrats expected to lose ground in the May 26 vote, their leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, sent a message to Merkel urging her to resign and called a party conference for June 2 in order to try to force her hand, one of the people said. AKK, as Kramp-Karrenbauer is known, did not warn Merkel of the conference and suggested she should run
for the presidency of the European leaders council.
In public, AKK has insisted that Merkel should see out her term, and a spokeswoman for the party leader pointed to those comments when contacted by Bloomberg News.
After becoming CDU leader last year, AKK has struggled to gain traction in polls and in the party, as nods to the right wing ended up alienating many of her more liberal supporters.