BERLIN – German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel has declined a job offer from the United Nations, according to her office, as she prepares to step down after 16 years in power.
According to UN sources, Secretary General Antonio Guterres has requested Merkel to chair an advisory council on a “shared agenda” for governance following the epidemic, which he proposed late last year.
Merkel’s office confirmed media reports by saying she “talked with the UN Secretary General last week, thanked him, and told him she would not be accepting the invitation.”
Merkel, 67, stepped down as chancellor last month and was replaced by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, who led a three-way coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.
Despite wild speculation about what she might do next, Merkel remained tight-lipped, implying simply a tranquil life of books and sleep.
Her long-time assistant Beate Baumann, on the other hand, said last month that they were working together on Merkel’s political memoirs, a project she estimated would take two to three years.
Merkel still has an office supplied by the Bundestag despite having been a member of the Bundestag for 30 years.