By Paul Carrel
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's protegee, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, pledged on Wednesday to push for increased military spending "in our own interests" as Germany's new defence minister - a role likely to make or break her chances of succeeding her mentor.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, who lacks high-echelon government experience, grabbed the defence role to build her credentials for the chancellery - a high-stakes move that will demand she build up a military many Germans remain uneasy about deploying.
Merkel, who turned 65 a week ago, is aiming to stage-manage her gradual exit from politics and hand over power to Kramp-Karrenbauer, who replaced her as chair of their Christian Democrats (CDU) in December.
At a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, Kramp-Karrenbauer - known as AKK after her initials - began the tricky task of promising to seek spending hikes that the CDU's Social Democrat coalition partners want to limit.
At the same time, she stressed that shaping up the Bundeswehr (armed forces) was in Germany's own interests - presenting thinly veiled resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump's demands that Berlin boost its military budget.
"To speak quite plainly, this is not about wishes from abroad, this is not about an arms build-up, it is about equipment and personnel - it is about our Bundeswehr," she told lawmakers to loud applause.
"It is about a Bundeswehr that can fulfil the tasks we give it - it is about our own interests. If the Bundeswehr is to demonstrate the capabilities (that) we demand and expect of it, then the defence budget must rise."
The defence job, vacated last week when Ursula von der Leyen quit to become president of the European Commission, will raise Kramp-Karrenbauer's profile and give her a chance to reverse her declining popularity with a view to succeeding Merkel by 2021.
But her move into a role dubbed "the ejector seat" - such is the career damage to recent incumbents - risks backfiring as she inherits the task of reviving a demoralised and under-equipped Bundeswehr dogged by scandals and right-wing extremism.
With the defence job, she also ties herself to the binds of cabinet loyalty - while as CDU chair she must still mastermind the party's strategy for three autumn regional elections in Germany's east, in which success is crucial to her prospects.
FLOUNDERING POPULARITY
She immediately ran into trouble last week after giving a lacklustre television interview and saw her public support - already floundering - take a further dip.
Kramp-Karrenbauer brings no defence experience, but comes with a track record - albeit brief - of pushing the military's case. In March, she said Germany's credibility with its NATO partners was at stake unless it raised defence spending.
She underlined Germany's NATO commitment to boost military spending towards a target of 2% of economic output, adding: "We are a reliable ally, bearing a fair share of the joint duties."
Aiming to make a better fist than von der Leyen of cleaning up the armed forces and boosting morale and military readiness, she paid tribute to the service of Germany's armed forces: "This service needs respect, this service needs support," she said.
In 2017, von der Leyen criticised "weak leadership" in the armed forces, provoking dismay among soldiers' representatives, after an officer was arrested on suspicion of planning a racist attack to frame refugees.
ADVERTISEMENTAdding to the challenges Kramp-Karrenbauer faces, the Social Democrats are wary of committing to Britain's plan for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
"We must always examine scrupulously requests for support from our partners - we mustn't affirm hastily, nor issue knee-jerk rejections," she said.
(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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