Germany’s Merkel more alone after another ally walks out

German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked increasingly lonely yesterday after another key ally, the mayor of Hamburg, jumped ship as part of a mass exodus of experienced conservatives.

Ole von Beust, leader of Germany’s second city which is also one of 16 regional states, announced he was quitting in August for personal reasons with another three years to go in his term.

He is the sixth conservative state premier to leave his post in 10 months, and follows the shock resignation of president Horst Koehler in May over remarks linking Germany’s Afghanistan mission to national economic interests.

In a joint statement to reporters, Mrs Merkel thanked Mr Von Beust for his service while he insisted he was leaving “bearing no grudge”. But the two took no questions at what was announced as a press conference.

A political moderate, Mr Von Beust was a valuable asset to Mrs Merkel, with a proven ability to draw urban voters to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a traditionally leftist city.

Mrs Merkel, Forbes magazine’s most powerful woman in the world four years running, had already been facing serious questions about her leadership due to sinking poll numbers and incessant back-biting in her centre-right government.

Veteran CDU deputy Wolfgang Bosbach said the rash of departures, albeit for various political reasons, “created the impression of a process of erosion”, in remarks published by the online service of the Handelsblatt business daily.

A leader of the opposition Greens’ parliamentary group, Juergen Trittin, crowed: “Everyone has been driven to despair by Angela Merkel.”

The press said the air was getting thinner for her.