Displaying items by tag: Merkel

Mrs Merkel brought unity and peace to the EU’s high table, which was unusual as she seldom had much to say. Like many German politicians she was unimaginative about how to stop financial rot from spreading to countries like Italy. But she had an asset that most leaders can only dream of - authority. When she talked, others listened. The arguing stopped. If her present attempts to form a coalition government fail and she steps down, who will have the same effect? The Brexit vote was representative of a big political undercurrent in European politics, a force that was moderated by Merkel. Without her, or anyone else with a unifying idea about the EU, the cracks in its thin ice could become dangerous splits. Emmanuel Macron draws the support of other radicals like Jean-Claude Juncker, but their vision of Europe is at odds with the view of most. Other leaders are silent.

President Erdogan labelled mainstream German political parties and their leaders - including Mrs Merkel - ‘enemies of Turkey’, and called on Turks not to vote for them in Germany’s elections on 24 September. This raised hackles on the German side; Mrs Merkel called it ‘meddling’ in German elections, saying that voters had the right to vote freely, regardless of background. SPD leader Martin Schulz said Erdogan ‘had lost any sense of proportion.’ Meanwhile, AfD leader Frauke Petry faces a perjury fight. Ms Petry moved the AfD to the right after it was founded as an anti-euro movement. In 2016, amid the influx of migrants and refugees into Germany, she suggested that police should ‘if necessary’ shoot at migrants seeking to enter illegally. Now there are calls for her to lose her immunity from prosecution over allegations of perjury (she is suspected of making false statements under oath before a parliamentary committee in November 2015). AfD hopes to enter Berlin’s parliament in September’s election. See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40961113