Mayor of 'poor but sexy' Berlin announces early exit

Berlin's embattled mayor Klaus Wowereit, who famously dubbed his city "poor but sexy" and presided over its rise as an arts and party capital, said Tuesday he would step down in December.
      
Wowereit, who has led Berlin since 2001, had once been seen as a potential Social Democratic challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
      
But his star rapidly tarnished in recent years due to a fiasco surrounding a planned international airport.
      
"There was a lot of speculation recently about how long the mayor would stay in office. Two years before the term is up, this was not helpful and did a lot of damage," he told reporters, saying he would leave office on December 11, just weeks after the city celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
      
It was not immediately clear who would replace him, with several Social Democrats lining up to take the job, or whether his decision would prompt new elections, which are currently scheduled in late 2016.
      
The airport on the German capital's southeastern outskirts was to open in June 2012 but it has been marred by repeated delays and massive cost overruns and a new opening date has still not been announced.
      
Wowereit is chairman of the supervisory board of the airport, whose management has faced allegations of corruption and incompetence.
     
 He called the airport debacle a "bitter defeat" and said with a smirk that he would also resign from "that highly attractive post" on the board.
      
But he said he was proud of helping to make Berlin "the place to be" for record numbers of tourists with its world-class cultural institutions and legendary nightlife.
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