Germany's Merkel raises eyebrows with halting Merz endorsement

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel's recent criticism of current conservative leader Friedrich Merz's migration policy has put renewed focus on the former chancellor's sour relationship with her old party rival.

At an event organized by the weekly newspaper Die Zeit in Hamburg on Wednesday evening, Merkel gave a hesitant and winding answer when asked whether she'd prefer Merz, her successor as the head of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), or the Green Party's Robert Habeck as the next chancellor.

"I am now a CDU member, I am above all convinced that the CDU, in terms of the economic tasks..." Merkel said, as laughter and applause in the room interrupted her remarks.

She continued: "When I think about the economic future of our country, I wanted to say Merz or Habeck, I have to say Merz, um, but I wanted to give a reason for that."

There are huge economic challenges ahead "and I have a lot of confidence in the CDU," she said.

Merz is currently the favourite in upcoming elections to return the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) to power for the first time since Merkel's retirement.

The relationship between Merz and Merkel has long been badly strained. Merkel ousted Merz from a key party leadership post in 2002, and eventually pushed him to a backbench role in the party.

The sidelined Merz eventually quit politics during much of Merkel's time in office, opting to work in finance instead, and only mounted his return to CDU party leadership following Merkel's retirement.

At a CDU celebration in September to belatedly mark Merkel's 70th birthday, the two appeared very friendly with each other, which many political observers took as a sign that they'd buried the hatchet.

But Merkel issued a sharp public rebuke to Merz last week for his divisive move to demand a crackdown on migration and stark reversal in refugee policy.

In particular, Merkel expressed her opposition to Merz's reliance on votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass a resolution through parliament.