Germany’s crisis means uncertainty for Europe. But it won’t be fatal | Natalie Nougayrède
The collapse of Germany's coalition talks is the latest shock to hit Europe. No one saw it coming. Of course the blow is of a different nature from the banking crisis, the war in Ukraine, the refugee crisis, Brexit, Trump, Poland and Hungary's democratic backsliding, or Catalan secessionism. Germany's politics look upended but the fundamentals are still in place: the postwar democratic set-up is hardly under threat. Still, this is rattling stuff. Europe's powerhouse is in unknown political territory at a time when so much remains unresolved across the continent. And Germany's political uncertainty means yet more uncertainty for the EU. Yet doomsayers shouldn't assume that this crisis has to be fatal.
Nowhere outside Germany is the political breakdown being watched more closely than in France. Emmanuel Macron had set his sights on the German election as the starting point of his plan for a European "renaissance" alongside Merkel. On Monday, Macron did not hide his concern, saying it was not in France's interest that "things become tense" in Germany. "We must move forward," he added. But the worries go deeper than Germany's internal problems. If Merkel was supposed to be the leader of the free world in the era of Trump and Brexit then what might the future look like without her? Far-right websites have been humming with glee at the news that Merkel has now run into deep difficulty.
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