What the commentators said

“Brexit, Trump and now this,” said Ines Pohl in Deutsche Welle. We never imagined the leader of “stable and successful Germany” would find herself unable to form a government. That’s because we believed Germany was immune to the age of populism, said Yascha Mounk on Slate. Columnists hymned Merkel as “the true leader of the free world” and, until a few months ago, right-wing populists weren’t even represented in the Bundestag. That illusion was shattered in September when the right-wing AFD almost tripled its share of the vote, to become the third biggest party. It doesn’t hold office, but the populist xenophobia it espouses sets the political agenda: it was a proposed deal to let spouses of legitimate refugees into Germany that prompted the FDP to end coalition talks. For years, the conservative parties kept the far-right at arms’ length. Once Merkel “leaves the stage”, they look set to radicalise.

Don’t be too sad to see her go, said Roger Boyes in The Times. She stood out among Europe’s politicians only because the rest were so mediocre. She herself was always too much of a reactive politician, with no convictions of her own. Look at how, in 2011, reacting to the Fukushima nuclear accident, she suddenly “dressed herself up as a Green” and renounced nuclear power; look how four years later, with equal suddenness, she decided to open Germany’s borders. Germany needs a new, better leader. Even if Germany doesn’t miss her leadership the EU will, said Paul Hockenos in Foreign Policy. France’s President Macron had been counting on her to help him bind the EU more tightly together: there’d even been talk of Eu-wide taxes and a common military force. Now all is up in the air in a “shaky, disoriented Europe”. It’s not such good news for Britain either, said James Forsyth on his Spectator blog. Merkel was never going to “ride to Britain’s rescue” and help us secure a good Brexit. But it’s going to be a lot harder to negotiate with the EU while its most powerful member lacks an “empowered government”.