Wanted: a true leader for Europe now Merkel’s reluctant reign is over

Germany's popular chancellor served her country well, but lacked a strategic vision for the EU in a world of predators

Advancing Panzer tanks and Wehrmacht divisions once symbolised German ambitions to dominate Europe. Eighty years on, the position is wholly reversed. Blitzkrieg has been replaced by snooze-krieg as the leading candidates to succeed Angela Merkel in this month's safety-first federal election seek to perpetuate modern-day Germany's ingrained reluctance to lead Europe on the global stage.

As the world burns, Germany slumbers. Whether the challenge is an accelerating climate crisis, crumbling EU unity, China's abusive authoritarianism, a collapsing US security umbrella or bottomless Russian malevolence, Europe's most powerful country too often fails to take a stand. Emmanuel Macron's France strikes out randomly. Boris Johnson's Britain claims, delusionally, to punch above its weight". Berlin, in contrast, fights shy.