Striden om vem som ska ta över efter Merkel hårdnar

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to as AKK, is a German politician who has served as general secretary of the CDU since 2018. She was chief minister of Saarland from 2011 to 2018, making her the first woman to lead the government of Saarland and the fourth woman to head a German state government. Her superior, the leader of the CDU party Angela Merkel has stated on 29 October 2018 that she does not intend to stand another term for the party's leader position. Kramp-Karrenbauer has positioned herself as Merkel's successor in the upcoming leadership election in December 2018.

Friedrich Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as a Member of the European Parliament 1989–1994, a member of the Bundestag 1994–2009, and as the chairman of CDU/CSU parliamentary group 2000–2002. In 2018 he announced his candidacy in the CDU leadership election in December 2018.Merz has worked as a judge and as a corporate lawyer. He was a full-time politician from 1989 to 2009. He was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the same year as Angela Merkel was elected chairman of the CDU, and at the time they were rivals for the leadership of the party. In 2002, he stepped down as chairman in favour of Merkel. In 2009 he withdrew from politics to work as a corporate lawyer, and has served on the boards of numerous companies. He announced his return to politics in 2018. Merz has described himself as socially conservative and economically liberal, and is seen as a representative of the conservative and pro-business wings of the CDU. He has been chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke association which promotes German-American understanding and Atlanticism, and is a staunch supporter of the European Union and NATO, having described himself as "a truly convinced European, a convinced transatlanticist."

Jens Spahn (born 16 May 1980, in Ahaus-Ottenstein, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German politician currently serving as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth Merkel cabinet. He is a member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag (German: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages, MdB) for Steinfurt I – Borken I and is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which governs in partnership with the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Spahn was the youngest member of the German parliament, having been elected in 2002 at age 22. He has since then served in the 15th, 16th and 17th Bundestags and is one of the main sponsors of pension reform in Germany. He is a member of the Committee of Health of the 17th Bundestag and chair of the working group on health and health policy as well as the spokesman of the CDU/CSU health parliamentary group. In 2018, Chancellor Angela Merkel stated her intention not to seek re-election for the CDU party leadership. Immediately, Spahn announced his intention to stand for election as her successor in December 2018.

Angela Dorothea Merkel [ˈaŋɡela doʁoˈtʰeːa ˈmɛɐ̯kl̩], född Kasner den 17 juli 1954 i Hamburg, är en tysk politiker och fysiker som är Tysklands förbundskansler (tyska: Bundeskanzlerin) sedan 22 november 2005, och partiordförande för partiet Kristdemokratiska unionen (CDU) från 2000 till december 2018. Hon leder sin fjärde regering som tillträdde 14 mars 2018, en koalitionsregering av CDU, det bayerska systerpartiet CSU samt socialdemokratiska SPD. Sedan 1990 har Merkel varit direktvald ledamot av Tysklands förbundsdag. Merkel var mellan 1991 och 1994 federal minister för kvinno- och ungdomsfrågor i Helmut Kohls regering och 1994 till 1998 miljö- och kärnkraftssäkerhetsminister. 1998 till 2000 var hon partisekreterare för CDU. Merkel är Förbundsrepubliken Tysklands åttonde förbundskansler sedan andra världskriget, den första politikern uppväxt i Östtyskland som innehaft ämbetet, och den första kvinnan på kanslerposten. Hon har tidigare verkat som forskare i kvantkemi och har en doktorsexamen (Dr. rer. nat.) i ämnet. Angela Merkel har beskrivits som Europeiska unionens egentliga ledare, och rankades 2011 som världens näst mäktigaste person av tidningen Forbes; således är hon den mäktigaste kvinnan i modern tid.