"I believe that nothing will change in [the German] position in the international talks. One can even say that I will have more time to focus on my responsibilities as the head of the government," Merkel said at a press conference after the negotiations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.
She also vowed not to meddle in the "transparent" process of election of the party’s new head.
The statement was made in wake of her Monday's announcement: Angela Markel said she would not participate in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leadership contest in December and would step down as federal chancellor in 2021.
The chancellor's announcement came a day after Merkel's conservatives suffered serious losses in a state election in Hesse, tumbling by 11 percentage points since 2013 to 27 percent of the vote.
The popularity of Christian Democrats has been sliding in all nationwide polls. CDU's sister party in the southern state of Bavaria, Christian Social Union (CSU), likewise lost 10 percent of the vote in this month’s election to the regional parliament.
