Germany's Christian Democrats have played it safe. By opting for Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as party leader, they have voted for a centrist who is long on party unity and short on major policy initiatives.

Merkel's decision to step down as leader of her Christian Democratic Union is part of her slow, stage-managed exit from German politics.

In Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, the party has chosen a successor from the same safety-first mold.