BERLIN (Reuters) – German Health Minister Jens Spahn is considering putting himself forward to stand as chancellor for Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in a September federal election, top-selling Bild daily reported on Friday.
Merkel has said she will not run for a fifth term in the election and her Christian Democrats (CDU) are to pick a new leader next week. The winner would be a favourite to stand as chancellor but someone else could stand, not least because the CDU’s Bavarian sister party has to back the candidate.
Citing party sources, Bild said Spahn, who has been in the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic, had discussed his future role with various influential CDU politicians in the last few weeks.
A chairman of a CDU state association told the paper that Spahn was “very openly thinking about running and is saying so quite clearly in talks”.
