Germany's Merkel ready to have more time to read, travel
ABC News
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is satisfied with the timing of her departure after 16 years at the helm of the country and is now looking forward to dedicating time to things she had to neglect during her chancellorship
BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is satisfied with the timing of her departure after 16 years at the helm of the country and is now looking forward to dedicating time to things she had to neglect during her chancellorship.
Merkel said she wants to “perhaps travel a bit or read, or simply enjoy some leisure time knowing that no possible upheaval may happen in the next 20 minutes,” weekly paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Saturday.
The chancellor, who announced in 2018 that she would not run again in the national election last month, steered Germany safely through a succession of crises including the global financial crisis, the migrant crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
She said that while the years in office had fulfilled her, they had also been challenging because of the constant need to pay attention to, prevent, or react to crises.
