<span style="color: #222222;">Germany's Angela Merkel has said she will step down as Chancellor in 2021, following recent election setbacks. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">She told a news conference in Berlin that she would not seek re-election as leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union( CDU). She has held the post since 2000.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The CDU was severely weakened in yesterday's poll in the state of Hesse, the latest in a series of setbacks. Both the CDU and its coalition partners, the Social Democrats, were 10 percentage points down on the previous poll there. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mrs Merkel said she took "full responsibility" for poor performance, and made clear she would not handpick her successor as party leader. </span><br />