Merkel Starting to See Former Troublemaker May Be Chancellor
Bloomberg
1/15/2021
Arne Delfs
(Bloomberg) -- Each Monday morning at the state chancellery in Munich, officials run through the week’s events and cherry-pick the best PR opportunities for Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder.
Whether it’s a technology conference, a highway opening or the ceremonial tapping of a beer keg, Soeder’s people routinely sideline members of his cabinet to burnish their boss’s image, according to people familiar with the process. Such uncompromising ambition has made the 54-year-old former TV journalist the front-runner to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor after September’s German election.