The 67-year-old chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that she is satisfied with her long term and is now looking forward to leisure time that she hadn’t had enough because of her duties.
“I see that there are a number of things that I, as a chancellor, lacked. Perhaps travel a bit or read, or simply enjoy some leisure time knowing that no possible upheaval may happen in the next 20 minutes,” she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
She noted that despite her satisfaction, her term was tense and difficult due to the crises the country had faced.
“I can say with a good feeling now that it is right for someone else to take over,” Merkel added.
Earlier, the chancellor said that she was relieved and grateful when she was handed notice of the end of her term from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to Merkel, she is satisfied with the work done over the past 16 years.
Since Tuesday, Merkel has been nominated as the acting German chancellor. She is supposed to hold the office until the coalition negotiations under the leadership of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz are completed. If these negotiations end successfully, Scholz will become the new head of government before the end of this year.