Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel to run for fourth term

Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has announced her intention to seek a fourth term as chancellor in the parliamentary, in 2017, Norbert Röttgen, a senior politician from her party- the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told CNN's "Amanpour" on Tuesday.

"She is absolutely determined, willing, and ready to contribute to strengthen the international liberal order, but we can't see the Chancellor or Germany as last man standing."

"The Chancellor is a cornerstone of this political concept of the West as acting as a global player. So she will run, and she will act as a responsible leader," Roettgen said.

He added that Europe needed the support of the transatlantic alliance.

"But it would be impossible to rely only on one person. We need the West, and the West is indispensable.

"And this of course means fundamentally and indispensably also the participation and contribution of the strongest part of the West, and this is the United States of America."

Mrs Merkel who came into power in 2015, has faced some criticisms recently over Germany's Syrian refugee policies that have seen hundreds of thousands of refugees flock into the country.