Merkel declines honorary CDU chairpersonship

Retired German chancellor Angela Merkel will not become honorary chairperson of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), reported dpa, quoting the conservative party's leader on Friday.

CDU leader Armin Laschet told the RTL/ntv broadcaster that there were concerns such a role no longer made sense.

"Angela Merkel also came to the decision that it no longer fits the times. We don't have an honorary chairperson. That's a tradition from the past that doesn't exist now at federal level," Laschet said.

Laschet, who led the CDU to its worst-ever election result in September last year, will soon vacate the party leadership. His successor Friedrich Merz is expected to be formally elected at an online party conference on Saturday.

Merkel did not contest the September elections, retiring from politics after 16 years at the helm of Europe's biggest economy.

Laschet pointed out that "the last honorary chair was Helmut Kohl, who then resigned from the honorary chair."

Kohl, Merkel's predecessor and one-time mentor, resigned from the post in 2000 due to an embezzlement affair.