‘It was a pleasure’ says Chancellor Angela Merkel at her last federal press conference

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made her last ever appearance at the summer federal press conference, a tradition organized by a union of Berlin journalists. Many of the questions look back at her 16 years in office. At one point during the conference, Angela Merkel stumbles over her words. The chancellor is asked where she will be on September 26 at 6 p.m., the evening of the German federal elections — and the end of her fourth and final term. After a moment’s hesitation, she says: “I haven’t thought about it yet. But I will have some kind of connection to the party that is dear to me.” Merkel breaks off the sentence and starts again — “of which I am a member.” There is laughter in the hall. “So, it is dear to me, and I am a member,” she adds. “So, a double, a double allegiance.” Merkel is a guest at the federal press conference (BPK), a union of German journalists in the capital, presumably for the last time as chancellor. For the 29th time in her 16 years as chancellor, she has traveled a few hundred meters from the chancellery to the BPK’s large press hall.