Angela Merkel: German Chancellor announces decision to seek fourth term

Polls also suggest support for her bloc has stabilized as measures to curtail the influx of refugees and ease the return of those whose applications for asylum are rejected take effect.

Despite a voter backlash over her open-door migrant policy, the conservative is seen as a stabilizing force in Europe amid uncertainty caused by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president.

She repeated the line on Thursday at a bittersweet farewell news conference in Berlin with Obama, who praised her as an “outstanding partner” and urged Germans to “appreciate” her. On Sunday, former president Nicolas Sarkozy bowed out of the race to be the conservative candidate, leaving the contest to former prime ministers François Fillon and Alain Juppé.

Th EU’s longest serving leader, in power since 2005, has seen her popularity drop after she made a decision to let hundreds of thousands of migrants into Germany in 2015. Can you offer your country more?

“I want to serve Germany”, she said, adding she would “fight for our values and our way of life”.

OLAF BOEHNKE: Maybe the 50 percent of the USA who voted for Hillary Clinton, as well as more than 90 percent of Europe, are hoping she’s maybe the last sort of hope, that she can be the one actually domesticating President Trump.

Her relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin could change, too.

Germany’s top selling Bild daily, usually a strong Merkel defender, had some tough advice for her, predicting the looming campaign “will be her hardest yet” and decided by mainstream voters, “not editorials in The New York Times”. But that will be tested as Mr. Putin warms up to Mr. Trump, who appears less interested in sanctions.

Her image as a liberal anchor in stormy political times is both a blessing and a curse for voters. “These have guided my efforts, and I will continue to support them again and again”, she stressed. “If Le Pen loses and Renzi survives, Merkel will have a chance to shape European responses to Brexit, the refugee situation, the problems with the euro and Russian Federation”, he said via emailed comments to CNBC.

Merkel’s candidacy for the party leadership she has held since 2000 will now go to a vote at the CDU’s annual convention in the western city of Essen in two weeks. The American president-elect should not imagine that he and America can get along in the world without good relations with Germany and its chancellor.

SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor, accused Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of neglecting European integration.

“Merkel could not impose her will on the distribution of refugees, nor on reform-minded fiscal discipline in Club Med”, said Joffe, referring to southern European EU members.

With no clear successor in the CDU, her decision also comes as a relief to her party.

She acknowledged the threat from far-left and right wing parties today saying “This election will be hard like no other election since the reunification”.

Merkel’s policy of allowing nearly 1 million refugees to enter Germany a year ago eroded support for the chancellor and her party while fueling backing for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany.

Now, the 62-year old has given it.

The chancellor came under strong pressure from the Christian Democrats’ sister party in the southern state of Bavaria – the main landing point for migrants making their way to Germany via its Balkan neighbors – to set strictly enforced limits on new arrivals.