Merkel wishes incoming German chancellor Merz 'good fortune'

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel wished Friedrich Merz, head of the incoming government in Berlin, "good fortune, and also much strength and good comrades" days before the new government takes power next week.

Speaking to the Phoenix television on the sidelines of a meeting of Germany's Protestant churches on Thursday, Merkel said that an important requirement for the position of chancellor was to take pleasure in the role.

While Merkel and Merz are members of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), they fell out after Merkel gained the party leadership in 2002, with Merz gradually withdrawing from politics to pursue a career in corporate law before returning after Merkel's retirement in 2021.

Merkel is to observe his election as chancellor in parliament from the visitors' gallery on Tuesday.

She said that even today she would wish to be chancellor, if she had not already held the post. But, asked whether she would consider an international role, Merkel, who is 70, said: "My political time is at an end."

Looking back on her time as CDU leader from 2000 to 2018, Merkel expressed regret that the party had not managed to boost its female membership to 50%. It also had too few young members, she said.

While Merkel has largely kept out of politics since stepping down, she told Phoenix the party should stick to its threefold roots of being liberal, Christian-social and conservative. It should reject the rhetoric of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), she said.

Merz, who is seen as to the right of Merkel, and his party drew intense criticism - including from the former chancellor herself - ahead of the February elections when he put forward a motion on curbing immigration that passed with the help of the AfD.