Germany is finally getting a new government – and it will be plunged straight into crisis mode | John Kampfner

With the country enveloped in gloom and facing mayhem from the US and Russia, it's hard to imagine a more fraught time to take power

Germany is about to get a new fitness trainer. So declared Markus Soder, one of the political leaders who have just announced a coalition agreement. In one of the quirks of the country's constitution, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) will play a significant role in the new administration, and Soder used his moment in the limelight to play the entertainer.

It was a curious way to announce the arrival of a new government, expected to be sworn in during the first week of May. Since the elections of 23 February, Germany will have been in limbo for two and a half months, and all while Donald Trump rampages across the world.

John Kampfner is the author of In Search of Berlin, Blair's Wars and Why the Germans Do It Better