Following the effective resignation of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of the governing Christian Democratic Union, internal party elections for a successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel have been scheduled for 25 April in Berlin.

NOVE has analysed the importance of this transition in the context of German national politics, its impact on dynamics within the EPP political family and on the upcoming Council Presidency. In this note, we also address the potential for a feedback loop between Brussels and Berlin and identify some key actors in that respect in the coming period.