Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK,Angela Merkel Starts Grooming Successors, and One Stands Out , The New York Times. is a retired German politician who has been serving as chair of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation since 2026.Miriam Khan (19 December 2025), Kramp-Karrenbauer führt künftig die Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Der Spiegel. She served as Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2018 to 2021.
In February 2020, Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she would resign her position as CDU leader later in the year and would not put herself forward as a candidate for chancellor for the 2021 federal election. She was succeeded by Armin Laschet at the January 2021 CDU leadership election.
Kramp-Karrenbauer previously served as secretary general of the party and as Minister President of Saarland from 2011 to 2018, the first woman to lead the Government of Saarland and fourth woman to head a German state government. Kramp-Karrenbauer is regarded as socially conservative, but on the CDU's left wing in economic policy and has been described as a centrist. She is an active Catholic and has served on the Central Committee of German Catholics. She is the second woman to hold the office of German defence minister. She was succeeded by Christine Lambrecht.
In October 2021 she proposed for the use of nuclear weapons against Russia via a First-Strike capability as a deterrence against any "provocation" or aggression.
She renounced her Bundestag mandate and retired from politics after the 2021 federal election.
Life and education
Annegret Kramp was born on 9 August 1962 in Völklingen, located on the Saar River midway between Saarlouis and Saarbrücken, around 40 kilometres from Luxembourg and close to the border with France. She grew up in the neighbouring town of Püttlingen. Her father was a special education teacher and a headmaster.Michelle Martin (26 February 2018), Unassuming "Mini-Merkel" in pole position to succeed German chancellor Reuters. She graduated from high school in 1982 and considered becoming a school teacher, but decided to study politics and law at the University of Trier and at Saarland University, where she earned a master's degree in 1990.Guy Chazan (21 February 2018), ‘Mini-Merkel’ moves up to Germany’s political big league Financial Times.
Political career
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer joined the CDU while still in high school in 1981. In 1984 she was elected to the district council of Püttlingen, and in 1985 became chairwoman of the city's CDU association. From 1985 to 1988 she was also a member of the regional board of the Young Union in Saarland. From 1991 to 1998 she served as a policy and planning officer for the CDU in Saarland under environment minister Klaus Töpfer. In 1998, Kramp-Karrenbauer replaced Töpfer in the federal Bundestag, serving seven months before losing re-election in the SPD landslide the same year. In 1999, she was an advisor to Peter Müller, then chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag of Saarland and later Minister-President. That same year she became a chairwoman of the Women's Union.
State Minister 1999–2011 Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected to the Landtag of Saarland in 1999. She served as Minister of the Interior in the government of Peter Müller; the first woman to hold that office in Germany.Siobhán Dowling (25 January 2011), Letter from Berlin: Germany's New Generation of Female Political Leaders Der Spiegel. She took on more responsibilities in 2004, and changed roles in 2007 following a cabinet reshuffle, becoming Minister of Education and again in 2009, becoming Minister of Labor in the so-called Jamaica coalition government. In 2008, she was elected chairwoman of the Kultusministerkonferenz. Throughout her time in state government, she also served at various times as minister responsible for women, sports, family, and culture. In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal election, Kramp-Karrenbauer was part of the CDU–CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy, led by Annette Schavan and Andreas Pinkwart.
Minister-President of Saarland 2011–2018 In 2011, after months of difficult negotiations with the coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party and The Greens, Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected Minister-President of the Saarland in a special session of parliament, replacing Müller, who resigned to become a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court. Shortly afterwards, she ended the coalition and triggered an election, blaming the party for "dismantling itself" and arguing that the three-party coalition had lost the necessary "trust, stability, and capacity to act".Anthony Czuczka and Brian Parkin (16 April 2012), Merkel Seen Turning to Euro Bond-Backing SPD to Win in 2013 Bloomberg News. Kramp-Karrenbauer and the CDU won the state election soon afterwards, in what was widely regarded as the first electoral test of Chancellor Angela Merkel's crisis-fighting policy since the beginning of the European debt crisis;Anthony Czuczka and Brian Parkin (26 March 2012), Merkel’s Party Wins Saarland State in Show of Crisis Backing Bloomberg News. meanwhile, the FDP was ejected from the state parliament after taking just 1.2% of the vote. Under Kramp-Karrenbauer's leadership, the CDU won 40.7% of the vote in the 2017 state elections, up from 35.2% in 2012.Paul Carrel and Hakan Erdem (26 March 2017), Merkel's conservatives win Saarland vote in boost for national campaign Reuters.
While serving as Minister-President, Kramp-Karrenbauer, who speaks French, was also Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation between 2011 and 2014. She continued to be a member of the German-French Friendship Group that was set up by the upper chambers of the German and French national parliaments, respectively the Bundesrat and the Senate. Furthermore, as one of the state's representatives at the federal Bundesrat, she served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Defence. Kramp-Karrenbauer was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention to elect the president of Germany in 2012 and in 2017. She was also for a short time part of the CDU–CSU delegation's leadership team in the negotiations to form a "grand coalition" following the 2013 federal elections. She again played a role in the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2018, leading a working group on education policy alongside Stefan Müller, Manuela Schwesig and Hubertus Heil.
As Minister-President of Saarland, Kramp-Karrenbauer promoted the French language, aiming to make the state fully bilingual in German and French and thus promote Saarland as a bicultural European region similar to neighbouring Luxembourg. While Saarland had rejoined Germany five years before Kramp-Karrenbauer's birth when a majority voted against becoming an independent state, it has a long history of association with France dating back to the late 18th century.
Secretary General of the CDU, 2018 In February 2018, Merkel nominated Kramp-Karrenbauer as the new secretary general of the CDU. She was confirmed at the CDU party conference on 26 February, securing 98.87% of the vote. As secretary general, she managed the party and oversaw its election campaigns.Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs (19 February 2018), Merkel Sets Up Potential Successor With Key Party Appointment Bloomberg News. She also embarked on a major listening tour of the country, holding more than 40 meetings with local CDU associations and working on a new political manifesto for the party.
2018 CDU leadership election In October 2018, following bad results for the CDU/CSU in state elections in Bavaria and Hesse, Chancellor Merkel announced she would not stand for re-election as party leader in the CDU convention at the end of the year, triggering a leadership election. Former Bundestag leader of the CDU and businessman Friedrich Merz jumped into the race immediately while Health Minister Jens Spahn and Kramp-Karrenbauer announced their bids shortly after. Kramp-Karrenbauer was perceived to be Merkel's chosen heir and a continuation of her style and centrist ideology while Merz was an old rival from Merkel's early days as party leader and was very open about his intention to move the party in a more conservative direction. Nevertheless, the Chancellor did not state her preferences.
As the vote approached, opinion polls showed that Kramp-Karrenbauer was favoured by CDU voters and the general public alike. The contest was held on 7 December and after coming out on top in the first round, Kramp-Karrenbauer narrowly defeated Merz in a run-off, becoming the new leader of the CDU.
Leader of the CDU, 2018–2020 In the immediate aftermath of her election, surveys showed an increase in the CDU's vote share; however, it was short-lived. In the first months of her tenure, there were a series of gaffes and according to the press a failure to connect with voters. In the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament election, which was seen as her first major electoral test, the CDU's campaign was embroiled by a row between the party and YouTube personality Rezo. It was caused by a viral YouTube video posted by Rezo in which he called out the parties of the governing Grand Coalition (CDU/CSU and SPD) and urged viewers not to vote for them. Kramp-Karrenbauer reacted, stating that the electoral law should be changed to prevent social media personalities like Rezo from influencing the voters' choice in the midst of a campaign. The statement was harshly criticized as an attack on freedom of expression and damaged the image of Kramp-Karrenbauer among young people. Shortly afterwards, a Bloomberg report stated that Chancellor Merkel thought that her successor was not up to the job, further hindering her popularity.
The European Elections resulted in the CDU's worst national showing ever, below 30%. After the underwhelming result, rumors emerged that some CDU politicians planned to shun Kramp-Karrenbauer and put up another Chancellor candidate for the next Bundestag election. Tilman Meyer, a political scientist at University of Bonn, told Focus that the mounting pressure on Kramp-Karrenbauer could lead to the CDU going into the next election with a more conservative candidate such as Friedrich Merz, a former CDU parliamentary leader, in response to the rise of the far-right.
Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation as leader of the CDU on 10 February 2020 as a result of the 2020 Thuringian government crisis. The plan was that she would resign in the summer and her successor would be elected, but this was postponed to December due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of Defence, 2019–2021
When Ursula von der Leyen was elected President of the European Commission in July 2019, Kramp-Karrenbauer succeeded her as Federal Minister of Defence in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.Guy Chazan (16 July 2019), Kramp-Karrenbauer appointed German defence minister Financial Times.Jon Henley (17 July 2019), Merkel protege AKK given defence job seen as poisoned chalice The Guardian. This was the first time that she held a position in the federal government.Guy Chazan (16 July 2019), Kramp-Karrenbauer appointed German defence minister Financial Times.