Angela Merkel's decision to stand down as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party of Germany at the end of the year has opened up a power vacuum in the national politics.
She also announced earlier this week that she will not seek re-election as chancellor at the end of her current term in 2021.
The impending end of the Merkel era has left uncertainty, not just in domestic politics, but across the European Union.
Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports from Berlin.
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