Merkel vows not to become political ‘troubleshooter’ in retirement

“I will no longer be involved in politics,” Merkel said during an interview on her political legacy with Deutsche Welle 

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she isn’t planning to remain on standby to help out with the crises of the day once she leaves her position at the top of Europe’s largest economy, Qazet.az reports citing Politico.

“I will no longer be involved in politics,” Merkel said during an interview on her political legacy with Deutsche Welle released Sunday. “I won’t be a troubleshooter for political conflicts. I’ve done that for many years, 16 years as federal chancellor.”

Merkel said her immediate plan after leaving office once a new government is formed — at this stage likely to be in early December should three-way coalition talks go to schedule — is to sleep and read.

“It’s simply the case that I was, for many years, very much preoccupied with the agenda that was set for me and I always had to be on standby,” said Merkel. “You have to do that as head of government, if something happens, so that you can always respond to it immediately. Now I’m going to look at what I’d like to do by choice. But that will become clear only in a few months from now.”