Merkel still in charge of her future
No obvious successor to the German chancellor in her own party
Angela Merkel has defied many forecasts of her looming political demise in 12 years as German chancellor. And nearly four months into post-war Germany’s longest political impasse, she’s likely to emerge on top again for the time being — whatever happens.
Opponents have argued that Merkel’s time is nearing its end as they chew over her efforts to create a new government following September’s election, in which support for her conservatives and their centre-left coalition partners dropped.
Those partners, the Social Democrats, are agonizing about a decision Sunday on whether to negotiate another government with the former scientist.
“The end of Angela Merkel’s time in office has begun,” Kevin Kuehnert, the head of the Social Democrats’ youth wing and a prominent opponent of a coalition, said recently. “The Social Democrats would do well not to extend this time in office.”
The pro-business Free Democrats, who pulled the plug on Merkel’s first coalition-building attempt with them and another smaller party in November, have since sought to pin much of the blame on the chancellor.
“Germany won’t be able to thrive in the future with Angela Merkel’s recipes of the past 12 years,” deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki said.
But opponents failed for years to find a way past Merkel and don’t look close to doing so now, even if the 63-year-old is past her political peak. And there’s no single obvious successor in her own party — potential rivals don’t have the strength or, for now, the desire to mount an open challenge.
Merkel’s popularity among voters and supporters of her own Christian Democratic Union remains remarkably solid for a leader in power so long.
She built up that popularity in her early years as chancellor, sealing it with a calm response to the 2008 financial crisis and building on it by convincing many Germans that she was shielding them from the effects of the subsequent eurozone debt crisis.
“This feeling of security that she gave people is still there, in large part,” said Manfred Guellner, the head of the Forsa polling agency. “That remains her strength, and is what many want in an uncertain global situation.”
She still has popularity ratings that one-time mentor Helmut Kohl “could only dream of for 16 years” as chancellor, he added.