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Merkel’s ‘snow queen’ and Bremen hopes
VICTOR GROSSMAN reports from Germany where the left are in little shape to challenge the increasing militarisation pushed by the moribund coalition of conservatives and social democrats
German chancellor Angela Merkel

THE two vessels which headed every federal German government since 1949 are being sucked into a political maelstrom.

Elections to the European Union‘s Parliament in May gave the “Christian Union” a measly, chilly 28.9 per cent.

Though still Germany’s biggest, its keel is wobbling. With mumbling about Angela Merkel’s views and health (sharp eyes and tongues have twice noted her hands trembling), the hunt is on for a new captain, with no promising candidates in sight.

Its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), whose turbulent, rarely valiant history traces back to 1869, suffered far deeper immersion in that EU election whirlpool, with only 15.8 per cent. Recent polls give them 13 per cent.

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