MERKEL IS BELEAGUERED BUT FAR FROM FINISHED
After five months without a government, members of the CentreLeft Social Democratic Party (SDP) have now voted to join another coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. There has been no great sense of urgency in Germany. Its economy continues to grow, and its politics remain stable. Yet, the weakness of this latest “grand coalition” is bad news for Europe and for the world. Europe needs leadership, and France’s Emmanuel Macron needs a strong Eurozone reform partner.
At the global level, liberal values like respect for rule of law, human rights, open markets, and open borders need a champion. Germany, like the US, is far from a perfect messenger on these questions, but with Donald Trump touting “America First,” Xi Jinping erasing term limits in China, and strongmen emerging in country after country, Angela Merkel is still the best defender of these values. Her task has only become more difficult.
Much has changed in Germany over the past five years. The new coalition earned a collective 53% of the vote in last October’s election, down from 67% at the previous vote in 2013. Recent polls suggest the share might fall below 50% if another vote were held today.
A politically weaker Germany is bad news for Europe because a diminished Merkel will leave the EU without forceful leadership at a time when reform is very much on the agenda. Macron has proposed sweeping changes designed to bolster the Eurozone and counter resentful nationalism with common EU-wide policies on defence, taxes, and asylum rules. He has called for a Eurozone parliament, Eurozone ministers, a Eurozone budget, better coordination on tax policy, and a common approach to border controls. But Macron needs Merkel’s strong backing to ensure that leaders of the European Council, Commission, Parliament, and
NEWS OF THE WEEK
APRIL 3: India and Pakistan today (April 2) agreed to improve the telegraph and telephone channels between the two countries and also to introduce a new accounting procedure avoiding the hitherto prevalent practice of "sharing of revenues."