TWO weeks ago, Germany’s chancellor seemed to be in trouble. Her Christian Democrat (CDU) party and the more conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), its Bavarian sister, hated the bland coalition deal she had just forged with the Social Democrat (SPD) leadership. They also hated the fact that she had conceded the mighty German finance ministry to her prospective centre-left partners to help them win a membership vote, the result of which is due on March 4th. And they hated the fact that she had not brought any prospective successors into the cabinet.
Since then, however, Angela Merkel has rewritten the final chapters of her chancellorship. At a CDU conference in Berlin on February 26th Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, her preferred candidate to be general secretary (and, many reckon, to succeed her as chancellor) was elected to the job with 98.9% of votes. The party also opted for a new “grand coalition” with the SPD by a similar margin. In her speech, Mrs Merkel blamed her poor election result in...Continue reading
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