Merkel to step down as chancellor at end of term

Angela Merkel said on Monday she would step down as German chancellor at the end of her term in 2021 after a series of political crises and regional vote debacles rocked her fragile coalition.

Merkel had earlier informed her centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) that she would not stand again to be the party chairman at a congress in December to make way for new leadership.

"Today it is time to begin a new chapter," she told reporters at her party headquarters.