Back for a fourth term,the German chancellor faces tensions at home – but her role as head of the EU’s most successful economy is unchallengedAngela Merkel’s new coalition government is testomony to her skill as the great survivor, and to the unwisdom of underestimating her ability to outmanoeuvre opponents. Alliances of Germany’s two main parties are dubbed “elephant coalitions”. The one agreed this morning lumbers into life on very different terms from the final GroKo (grand coalition). “Two tired elephants, or dancing for the final time,” was the verdict of one speaker at the recent special conference of the Social Democratic party (SPD), calling for an finish to deals with “the Merkelator” and her Christian Democrats.
In the finish, and she prevailed by a decent margin. There was a two-thirds majority among SPD members for remaining in the coalition,while a third backed a youth-led campaign to shake up left-of-centre politics.
Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk