but for the christian democratic party, it is difficult to sit and look at us because a lot of these merkel is the midwife of this party and these people could be part of us and we had mishandled the problem. it reminds her of her failure, would you say? exactly. it may too early to talk of epitaphs but it is equally clear that the merkel era is coming to an end. and with it, germany will lose a leader whose sensitivities were honed in the communist east. this grim complex was a stasisecret police prison. thousands of political detainees walked these corridors between interrogation rooms and their cells. perhaps the strongest thing about growing up in the gdr left her with was a hatred of tyranny, a dislike of dictators, and an innate sympathy for people who had suffered under such regimes. if there is one defining thing about merkel, over the years, it is her commitment to freedom. and this became very strong over the past couple of years, commitment to freedom, of democracy, of the rule of law, of not taking freedom for granted. i think this was one of her hallmarks. merkel was perf

are going to become a little more relaxed at least in the context of the christian democratic party directly and we've seen that reflected in our poll numbers which of which of bounce back up to levels that she hasn't had for a year or so just in the recent as a result of her saying that she's stepping back from the leadership of her policy all right well the hall is packed a lot of excitement there in hamburg simon young following all the latest for us there on the ground family will come back to you just a little bit. after we have our political correspondent you know has that with us here in studio and we're also of course watching this party conference here on the right side of the screen we're going to listen in to chancellor merkel as soon as she takes the podium there but you know you know listening to what simon say maybe for an international audience who might not understand this process you have a party and then the chancellor and yet this is a very significant day a lot at stake what exactly is at stake it is important to understand the significance of the position as party chief

germany's ruling christian democrat party is deciding on a new leader as chancellor angela merkel steps down from the role after eighteen years in charge voting has now gone to a second round after no candidate got an initial majority with more now from berlin his. uncle merkel has kicked off the christian democratic union party's conference a crucial war in the history of the party its angela merkel's last hours leading eighteen years she's been in charge of the c.d.u. she stepped down from that position today she remains the chancellor of course she says she'll stay on doing nut job until twenty twenty one she gave a speech that was followed by ten minutes or so standing ovation they did not speak she said that the challenges facing the country right now were polarizing and that they needed strong will to tackle the. hard. it's a critical time for our country and for parties like ours the c.d.u. c.s.u. with the f.t. to the right of us and with a polarized society. well it was about as a motive as speeches you ever tend to get from angola merkel you could hear her voice go a few times

whether he belongs to the christian democrats or to the other party he would be. still. the main pillar within the european union but nevertheless. each chance. to be interested in a very close of. the president's europe be successful only if france and germany stick. to the parsed it will be true in the future as well therefore the question might be who will take the lead will it will appease a french president or the german chancellor. it depends who is more courageous who has more ideas and better ideas and who can mobilize the other members for his position also angle america has been the driver european unity and intra gratian for most of her term as they had of germany will her departure empower the euro skeptic forces inside the union. mrs merrett. or was interested to keep the european union members together but she was not really a driving force for more integration she has said several times we need you know europe. but she never explained to the public what does it mean i think. president my call was quite mild spoke and expecting. by the german government whi

party in her speech as she defended the core values of her a christian democratic party after appealing for unity within the party there was a long standing ovation for the veteran politician would be successors made their final appeals to the congress ahead of the vote which will happen at any moment we should how the results shortly i'm sorry the markle has led the party for the past . eighteen years here's some of what she said during her goodbye since they view this album funny this moment. is just one feeling. that i have and that is to feel his gratitude it was true joy it wasn't to honor thank you thank you very big changes there in hamburg we have our correspondents covering the story peter cravenness here our political correspondent here with us in our studio and we have simon young over in hamburg a covering the party conference he's disappeared there but i'm sure he can hear us if you can hear us let's start there with you you were listening into the speech it was pretty emotional there something like nine minutes of standing ovation for the chancellor really giving us the se

the new leader of germany's christian democratic union party will be on a great hour the former prime minister of the state of silent she was going into this vote there already the general secretary of the party she was given that role essentially the papal blessing if you will from angola merkel the outgoing leader of the party that she ruled over for eighteen years. and bauer was very much the continuity candidate she is expected to continue to a certain extent the work that angela merkel was getting on with however that may cause some problems because as angela merkel was giving her farewell address to the party conference she pointed out the current state of the party in the state of politics in germany means it's a very polarized and difficult situation that the woman known as a k.-k. is walking into. it's the height it's a critical time for our country and for parties like ours the c.d.u. c.s.u. with the f.t. to the right and fast and to the polarized societies one of the reasons that delegates may have decided that they wanted to go for only great crime karrenbauer is the fact

party in her speech she defended the core values of her christian democratic party after appealing for unity within the party there was a long standing ovation for the veteran politician at times bethel appeared close to tears unusual for the german leader who is. then better known for her us still with apple step down from party leadership after eighteen years. since they did this allen funt to this moment. isn't just one feeling. that i have and that is the feeling is gratitude it was true joy it wasn't too thank you thank you our political correspondent find young is that the party conference there in hamburg and joins us now i thought i mean we saw this emotional farewell from chancellor merkel she appeared close to tears this really does give us the sense that at the end of an era isn't it. nice to me that's quite true and of course anglo-american look back to the eighteen years in which she's been in charge of the c.d.u. . i just say it's quite noisy here again now because i'm a great campaigner about the first of those putting themselves forward to be the successor to bangla med

germany's ruling christian democrat party has chosen and i grabbed a cramp of current bar as its new leader that's after chancellor angela merkel stepped down from the role after eighteen years and his brother reports now from berlin. the new leader of germany's christian democratic union party will be under great calabar the former prime minister of the state of silent she was going into this vote they already did general secretary of the party she was given that role essentially the papal blessing if you will from angola merkel the outgoing leader of the party that she ruled over for eighteen years. current power was very much the continuity candidate she is expected to continue to a certain extent the work that angle of merkel was getting on with however that may cause some problems because as angela merkel was giving her farewell address to the party conference she pointed out the current state of the party in the state of politics in germany means it's a very polarized and difficult situation that the woman known as a k.-k. is walking into. the fight. it's a critical time for ou

on the growth will be the new leader of the christian democratic union party here in germany. fredricka mess in a runoff vote to take the party leadership picking up five hundred seventeen votes from the one thousand and one delegates that were voting in hamburg she is pretty much it certainly was billed as the continuity conduit heading into this election she was given the blessing by angola merkel the outgoing leader of the party after eighteen years when mrs merkel put this crown karrenbauer in the position of general secretary of the c.d.u. interesting enough the same position and gloom urkel held before she went on to lead the party eighteen years ago now mrs merkel did give a very emotional speech in phone at the opening of the party conference in which. he said whoever takes over from her is going to have a difficult task of pulling together uniting a party and a nation in very polarizing times in the fight it's a critical time for our country and for parties like ours the c.d.u. c.s.u. with the f.t. to the right of us and with the polarized societies well certainly one

king has started the political consultations by receiving the head of the french speaking christian democrat party and afterword the head of the liberal flemish party. party, after he has seen all of the leaders of the mainstream political parties, he will decide whether he accepts the resignation of charles, which is unlikely for the time being. the most plausible scenario is e king will maintain charles as the head of theederal last fort, which will at least four or five months because these snaplections are still unlikely. partiesthe political want to avoid sna elections. that is the reason for the current political crisis. it may be that the 14 days, at the same time of the european elections, will be held. overe key issue is immigration. what happened? had an unveiling of u.n. tax on migration, which was a hot topic in belgium, only since the local elections which october, thating election they chose to go to the extremes. the parties decided to toughen their stance on what they think is the heart of the proposition. alliance chose to have a stance far more to the right in order to try and ge

after eighteen years a german chancellor angela merkel's time as head of a conservative christian democrats party has come to.

as she's known will be the new leader of the christian democratic union party she takes over from angola merkel she'd previously been the the party's general secretary she was put into that position. by angle of merkel essentially being given the the papal blessing for her role in the future role and that is the role that she's taken she's won the the position after a runoff a get election against friedrich merits the first round of the ballot saw the health ministry gain span a limited from voting it went through to this runoff and. picked up five hundred seventeen of the one thousand and one delegate votes that were available you only need fifty percent of the votes to become the leader so it's her well. heading into this vote yes yes a she takes over from anglo merkel heading into the vote angela merkel opened up the party conference she said that whoever took on that job would have to be dealing with putting together a country that finds itself or certainly a party that finds itself polarized on a number of issues and tackling that was going to be job number one for whoever took over

percent of germans are dissatisfied with the current ruling coalition of merkel's christian democrats and the social democratic party now with the chancellor on her way out will merkel's departure become a final nail in the coffin of this already precarious government. the previous. chancellor. would be in office impala for the next morning we use i think she would stay we will get the new head of the party of the christian democratic party a new chairman or church of women we don't know yet but nevertheless the chancellor stays quite sure and she has still a. very strong position is in your hope and still within germany sure. after being in office now for. more than twelve twelve feet is. people expect. more or less in the next.

president was laid to rest next to his wife barbara who died earlier this year germany's christian democrat party will elect a new leader to replace on friday the choice they make will shape the future of john in politics and may determine how long it will stay on as chancellor dominic cain looks at the candidates. for weeks these three have been speaking to a packed hall says at stake the leadership of their party but perhaps also its political soul and direction on the pragmatic wing stance and a great company a protege of angela merkel and seen by many is the continuity candidate us i fear that this is a fear competition there must be no doubt that there are no political opponents inside our own party opponents must be in the other party. the most credible opponent is fleet of the smelts he was marginalized by merkel ten years ago but is now back with the powerful indorsement of former finance minister vice gang. matz's using rhetoric that sits uncomfortably with merkel's more humanitarian approach. he's been. outside. for some time i believe that we must be prepared to discuss the constitutio

germany's ruling christian democrat party is set to elect a new leader to replace angle americal mrs merkel's given her last speeches party leader in hamburg ahead of the secret ballot a thousand delegates would choose between three candidates to replace mrs merkel including her chosen successor and the good at. as well as her former rival friedrich matts mrs merkel is not seeking reelection but the winner will determine how long she can stay on as chancellor. there's outrage in france over the treatment of students arrested by police during protests in a western suburb of paris trade unions and left leftist parties have lashed out at what they call police brutality after this footage appeared online but france's interior minister says none of these high school students were injured. do so little by little the yellow vest movement has changed as it gathered fewer and fewer people there were two hundred ninety two thousand people on november the seventeenth but there are now around ten thousand it is a small minority some appear suppress but others have radicalized and affected beyond

on the program but for now let's move on to more headlines this hour germany's largest party the christian democratic union has a new leader described as a mini merkel on a gret trump card and bauer was elected during a party vote on friday replacing chancellor angela merkel who's stepping down from the role after eighteen years at the helm our europe correspondent peter olafur reports on this from burg. and a gret will be the new leader of the christian democratic union party here in germany. friedrich a mess in a runoff vote to take the party leadership picking up five hundred seventeen votes from the one thousand and one delegates that were voting in hamburg she is pretty much it certainly was billed as the continuity count it heading into this election she was given the blessing by angola merkel the outgoing leader of the party after eighteen years when mrs merkel put miss crime karrenbauer in the position of general secretary of the c.d.u. interesting enough the same position angle of merkel held before she went on to lead the party eighteen years ago now mrs merkel did give a very emotional spe

that germany's ruling christian democrat party is set to elect a new leader to replace chancellor angelamerkel mrs merkel has given her last speech as party leader in hamburg ahead of the secret ballot a thousand delegates will choose between three candidates to replace mrs merkel including a and a good at clam. and a former rival friedrich metz is merkel's not seeking reelection but the winner will determine how long she can stay on a chance let's go live now to dominic came a correspondent who's there at that meeting in hamburg so whoever the party chooses well i have in the media it could have an immediate impact on the country and on mrs merkel and the remainder of her term. very much so the point to made here is that angle america has just spoken to delegates is you saying the move on a thousand delegates here spoke for a biopsy forty five minutes or so fights the party for letting her be in charge for so long and she mentioned the successes during her time but also the successes around the different states of last year where her party forty elections she specifically referred to th

according to the left parties can connect miracle two point zero is no solution her policies continue with a k k and social change therefore isn't possible and from the free democrats christiane linder live in there a majority of the c.d.u. party conference spoke out in favor of a different strategy but then picked continuity. right now let's bring up to speed with some of the other stories making news around the world. u.s. president donald trump has nominated william barr for attorney general barr served as attorney general under president george h.w. bush and the same announcement trungpa also nominated ex fox news journalist heather now or it as the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. yemen's government and rebels traded accusations as they sat down for peace talks in sweden one key issue is expected to be the fate of the rebel held court city of new data it's a key entry point for food aid to the country even when both are tops are the first since twenty sixteen. a u.s. but to get the united nations to condemn hamas has failed a resolution proposed by a u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley well short of the required two thirds majority it would have formally condem

stop saving asylum seekers the boat lost its registration in september germany's for a wing christian democrat party is set to elect a new leader to replace chancellor merkel oracles given her last speech as party leader and ahead of a second ballots one thousand delegates will choose between three candidates to replace merkel including her protege. karen bauer and the former rival fried rick. those are the headlines to keep it here on al-jazeera throughout the day much more news to come out as here our correspondent is up next. my campground experience starts to soon as i join my fellow companies on the morning bus right there. real quick we get it done. but how to get another song that we cannot. get is a no holds barred american experience games city songs on the final opportunity to get lost internet get. it. out. there we are on the costs because. i. heard it was my first. reply at the bottom of my foot away because it's out for the. very day but quite honestly i am a shy brit who is way to step i may be smiling on the outside but inside filled with friends the next few days still. gets a bit o

taking a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world germany's ruling christian democrat party will hold a second round of voting to elect a successor to angola merkel after neither of the final candidates secured an outright majority the chancellor addressed her party in hamburg ahead of the secret ballot delegates are choosing between the final two candidates the winner will determine how long merkel can stay on as chancellor of germany these are still in the substance of your friends after over eighteen years disk will be my last speech as the leader of the german c.d.u. party we've always known that the party is never just one person by him or herself but always all members together called local branches district chapters state associations unions national and federal states amorous polities hand and hand and it was not long ago that we experienced how much strength and momentum we can develop together even though we are facing headedness. of dominic cain is live for us in the dominic is this effectively a referendum on merkel's time as chancellor. in some ways yes it is ho

manes chancellor of germany but her role as the leader of germany's governing christian democratic party now belongs to an account on con bauer after almost two decades at the top american hands the baton to her protege who is now in pole position to become germany's next chancellor only rock n roll and this is the day. i love and now it's time to open a new chapter today at this hour in this moment i am filled with one overriding feeling of gratitude to. the family and it was a good it's been a great pleasure it's been an honor to be before and to friends with also overcame the huge challenge in twenty fifteen of taking many people and your initial monetary and crisis. time in a form that we must prove that in times like these we resolutely defend our way of life our liberal values and our interests both the time and abroad not in the enough common sense of all truth and worst rioting but we must all work together to continue this momentum we all have the responsibility to shape and sustain this great people's policy of the new zone i would be very happy it is supposed to be enshrined i

miracle remains chancellor of germany but her role as the leader of germany's governing christian democratic party now belongs to an account comp con by hour after almost two decades at the top american hands the baton to her protege who is now in pole position to become germany's next chancellor. and this is the day. and now it's time to open a new chapter today at this hour in this moment i am filled with one overriding feeling gratitude to. the family i mean or the good it's been a great pleasure it's been an honor when people point to friends with also overcame the shooter challenge in twenty fifteen of taking many people and british military in crisis. we must prove that in times like these we resolutely defend our way of life our liberal values and our interests but the time and effort. in the lead up with this i'll soon with my acceptance that we must over together to continue this momentum we all have the responsibility to shape i'm sustain this great people's party of the middle and i would be very happy if both again sean and friedrich minutes would work with me to achieve this is our st

america remains chancellor of germany but her role as the leader of germany's governing christian democratic party now belongs to an account com convo or after almost two decades at the top american hands the baton to her protege who is now in pole position to become germany's next chancellor on the rock n roll end this as the day but yes this is on that site and now it's time to open a new chapter today at this hour in this moment i am filled with one overriding feeling gratitude. as for me. it's been a great pleasure it's been an honor only before and dear friends we also overcame a huge challenge in twenty fifteen of taking many people enduring a humanitarian crisis. and i am america for that we must prove that in times like these we resolutely defend our way of life our liberal values and our interests both time and abroad. in the halls. oh. we must all work together to continue this momentum we all have the responsibility to shape and sustain this great people's party of the little ones i would be very happy if both he and shannon to fredrik mertz would work with me to achieve. well it was cl

european but she has been weakened also and she had to step down from a role of head of the christian democrat party and of course you have. europe weakened by this wreck said story that never ends and with a weakened prime minister of britain and of course also with italy. who has a coalition government with two very different parties but who is fighting a little bit with the european commission so the main. the main countries of european union have. let's say we can leadership or we can relations relationship with brussels which is of course the case for. great britain and for italy ok david in belfast i mean one of the major criticisms is that the e.u. is basically predicated on an ideology of neo liberalism and they've been willing quite willing to sacrifice the interests of the people that they claim to represent and what has happened in france over the last few weeks is a very good example of that so it really be in the interest of the people are sacrificed on the altar of an ideology that no one in the european union ever voted on go ahead david. yeah i absolutely agree with you peter and i m

that's been a discussion especially in the side on the side of conservative policies of the christian democrats party to say that germination should not become an immigration country one of these classic immigration countries that. would normally be you would think about countries such as canada was strategy or the united states who have been. pulling in people from across the world really since the countries were founded and germany has not been like that and the conservatives have been saying that we that they would like to preserve kind of german identity within germany but they're really fighting it really got action here the situation is such that germany really doesn't need such skilled workers and that in fact a very large number of people maybe thirty or forty percent of people living in germany today already have some kind of foreign background so in the end the reality is such that germany will need these skilled workers and making it easier for them to come in will be very beneficial for the country all right our political correspondents frank with us here this morning thank you so much. n