Golden age.    (Source: Bloomberg)

After Theresa May’s record failure to push through her Brexit deal in Westminster, Germans are caught between sympathy and irritation. Either way, they’re battening down the hatches.

Germany’s chancellor says it’s up to London to say what should happen next. Other politicians are divided: Some Social Democrats, like Sigmar Gabriel, a former foreign minister, call for time and concessions for Britain, Heiko Maas, his party colleague and current foreign minister, says it’s (still) time for the UK to move beyond what it doesn’t want, to say what it does want.

Beyond a no-deal exit, Germans also dread a long, dragged-out delay. Politicians don’t want Brexit to bleed into the European elections in mid-May. Leaders here are now stepping up their backup plans. Industry associations are warning again of the hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk in the case of a disorderly Brexit and a recession. Companies are being advised afresh to prepare for a hard Brexit; so far, only the largest have done so. In the financial sector, more than 45 banks and institutes have shifted their businesses from London to Frankfurt, are beefing up operations in Germany or getting ready to do so. Smaller businesses meanwhile, like a local importer of British food in a Berlin neighborhood, are giving up already, managers intimidated by the prospect of stacks of paperwork and customs delays.

As Britain chases damaging Brexit dreams, it’s easy to forget there are bigger global problems to worry about: from the changing international balance of power to the environment. For Europeans, it seems obvious it’s better to address these together. Instead, the UK will be tied up for decades in this mess, at a huge opportunity cost to its people. And for Europeans in the UK, for Brits abroad, the limbo and angst continue. As a Brit in Germany, I hope for another referendum, though I won’t be able to take part myself, having lived away too long to be able to vote there anymore. I know the danger of exacerbating the divisions in Britain: Emotions run so high that it’s almost hard to imagine a debate based on discussion and facts. Still, the decision is too important not to try.

Germany is also finally addressing right-wing extremism in the Alternative for Germany. The domestic intelligence service will monitor the party of the populist far right. That means checking public statements for extremist content but falls short of monitoring emails and recruiting informants. The AfD started out as fringe opponents to the euro, gained momentum during the migrant crisis and has since seen leaders such as Björn Höcke criticize the Berlin Holocaust Memorial and call for Germany to make a “180 degree turn in remembrance policy.” Will this step make potential voters think twice about whether to follow the party? Maybe for some; others, not necessarily. The bigger question for politicians is how to handle the AfD’s appeal.

At least some folks are looking ahead and realigning accordingly: Ford and VW are cooperating, starting with vans and commercial pickups, and they’re figuring out the how to work together on electric and self-driving technology. Even Trump’s pleased. Carmakers’ margins are so narrow that they can’t afford to maintain the old competitive mindset, in the face of new rivals from China and internet giants who want to steal their lunch. Meet the future.

Source: https://www.handelsblatt.com/today/opinion/daily-briefing-germans-nightmare-the-uks-never-ending-brexit-tangle/23872678.html?ticket=ST-113248-bsYXQ3kxAvxhRoGqoqsR-ap5

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The new German government is in operation since a few weeks now but there is trouble brewing afoot in Berlin. Unexpectedly, the right wing AfD is pretty quiet at the time.

The CSU remains the arsonist

Those who have hoped the CSU (the Bavarian sister party to the CDU of Angela Merkel) will concentrate on governing the country after the forming of the government are utterly wrong. With the elections ahead in Bavaria, Horst Seehofer wanted to gather his voters and attract those who have left CSU for the AfD with the powerful comment “The Islam does not belong to Germany”. He even doubled within this context by adding “People of Muslim Belief belong to our country”. Just like one could take his belief and values off before going out on the streets. It certainly appears Horst Seehofer is able to abandon his belief and Christian values scarifying them to preserve his own power.

If you look into the history of Europe and Germany – and therefore Bavaria – you soon will discover Horst Seehofer wants to make the pure opposite of history to become reality. Whether by ignorance or on purpose is hard to determine, however based on facts the Bavarian Blusterer simply is wrong – “fake news” might the right term. During the early Middle Age Arabs and the academic people from their countries brought an enormous amount of knowledge to the backwardly European countries. People actually have to thank the Muslims for the following flourishing or Europe. They benefitted from countless innovative products and a vast knowledge transfer from the Occident into the countless by monarchs oppressed, socially underdeveloped and by a faint educational system inhibited countries of Europe. A startling detail: the majority of the academics originate from Chorasan – an expanded Afghanistan – and Iran, namely from the former intellectual stronghold Bagdad.

Angela Merkel took a clear position, criticised and rectified Horst Seehofers statement – who received it thin-skinned but did no longer make such unqualified statements.

Settlements within CDU still not finished

Angela Merkel has many areas with the need for improvement within her own party, too. While the Chancellor tries to convey she has understood the vote and is working on improvements her Health Minister Jens Spahn is backstabbing her. It took him just three appearances – perceived by the people concerned as big-headed and ice-cold calculated arrogance – to destroy Angela Merkels recently planted crop of hope. “Hartz IV does not mean poverty” was his first statement causing backlashes from many sources but also support by those who do not like governmental interventions (Hartz IV is the German unemployed support and welfare system introduced by the SPD in earlier times and a constant annoyance since it does not cover the rapidly increasing cost of life). With his second appearance Jens Spahn talked against the liberalisation of the abortion law unveiling his lack of knowledge and tact. Just a few days later he wanted to comply with his promise to create 8000 new jobs in health care and wanted to speed up the homologation of education certificates of nurses and doctors from other European countries. Again, the Health Minister unveiled he is unprepared since today it already is impossible to convince more than 1000 nurses from EU countries per year to come to Germany – also due to the questionable working conditions and much too low salaries in Germany.The situation is critical since many German nurses and doctors leave for better jobs in other countries like Switzerland. Based on these facts counting on foreign nurses and doctors seems to be questionable on two levels: these people leave a vacancy in their home countries and the problem in Germany becomes the burden of the foreign workers – the question is how long this can be done. Even more problematic is the continuous decrease of the quality in nursing which gradually becomes life-threatening, particularly with cheap foreign workers. Voices rise Jens Spahn is pulling wool on people’s eyes.

Even CDU exponents oppose the young politician and reveal there’s much to learn for Jens Spahn. At least, with his thoughtless, unemotional and erroneous appearances Jens Spahn is keeping all these issues prominently on top of the agenda of the Grand Coalition.However, the local CDU parties and the local party members have not yet understood the troubles of the German society, thus their ignorance could become a bigger problem than expected. The CNT Alliance visited some Kreisveranstaltungen (party gatherings) of the CDU in first semester of 2018 and discovered the mostly elderly party members are interested only in issues securing their own wealth. Other issueswere just briefly touched by the politicians on stage.

All this is a bit more than a tendency towards right. Like the strategy paper presented the group “WerteUnion” (Union of Values) beginning of April with lots of criticism for Angela Merkel. With this paper the opponents request a re-positioning of the CDU from the middle towards the right and fiercely oppose Angela Merkels refugee policy. Within this conservative manifesto they request the “return to the core values” of the CDU. The main part of the manifesto focusses on the Islam and migration. Again, it seems much easy for the authors of this manifesto to leave their Christian values behind (refugees) and putting them back in the centre of attention (Family) by demand. It doesn’t come as a surprise Jens Spahn sending a greeting to the approximately 100 people of this manifesto.

Interest to enthuse new members and to focus on younger people or migrants does not exist – in the contrary: our questions regarding rejuvenating the CDU or to include new members originating from foreign countries were quietly, but definitely opposed even with some discomfort. It seems Angela Merkel does not recognize the “Small AfD” among their own people – or she tolerates them on purpose.

Little fuss from the SPD

The partner in the coalition, the SPD, did not stir issues up after they’ve started governing. During the coalition negotiations the SPD has secured the Ministries of Finance, Justice and the Foreign Ministry besides others, much to the displeasure of those people in CDU and CSU who were keen on these jobs as well. With these ministries the SPD owns quite some power and the ability to steer the government: an excellent success for the negotiators of SPD.

At the other hand the SPD remains in a fuzzy situation not just within its own quest for identity. Several representatives of SPD do not find common ground regarding the welfare programme Hartz IV. Some people around vice president Ralf Steger for instance want to replace Hartz IV knowing the programme was introduced by the SPD but also is the reason for the downfall of the party. At the other hand, the Finance Minister Olaf Scholz wants to keep Hartz IV – since it is some kind of his own child from the time he worked for Chancellor Schröder, the facilitator of Hartz IV. The designated president of the party Andrea Nahles rarely shy of some “Kick-Ass”comments is very quit despite the discussion about Hartz IV and the job market being the opportunity for SPD to position itself clearly. She commented Jens Spahn’s intentional slip geared towards media with surprisingly soft voice, but straight into the face. Horst Seehofe and Jens Spahn are after the personal representation but missing out on their duties, and adds: “The primary job of the Chancellor is to sort out the act of government”.

Angela Merkel is flagging

Over the past years Angela Merkel became the symbol for political stability and predictability. She is popular in Germany and abroad but scratches in the paint become visible. Her political style is increasingly perceived as boring and leaden even by her own people. Usually, watched from distance she acts successfully and well balanced even for extensive problems. Angela Merkel is the chancellor of compromises and subtle but also of half-hearted decisions and stalling in front of complex problems. This works fine at the moment since economy runs excellent and tax revenues are on a steady high – both causing additional problems which she isn’t regulating. This stability increasingly is perceived as stagnancy which it actually is e.g. if looked at the Digital Offensive launched by the government many years too late.

Along with a certain fatigue in society towards Angela Merkel – a phenomenon previous chancellor Kohl encountered too – and her style the many postponed “building lots” become visible. Media often simplify the situation and explain the fatigue towards Angela Merkel merely with her misjudgment in the situation with the refugees and her catastrophic and negligent management of this issue. This, however, is just a small part of the real reasons for the poor results of the elections and the steep head wind Angela Merkel is facing. It is the combination of various diverse issues such as the state of emergency in nursing, poverty among the elderly, housing shortage, low wages and this in combination with contemptuousness and ignoring several population groups, particularly those at the far right of the political spectrum. The situation with the refugees therefore is just one part of the picture – but one people easily can discharge their hate and anger. Also because of the right wing party AfD right wing ideas and right wing protesting became “En Vogue” – even the voters of CDU/CSU are going towards the right. In this climate the uprising hostility against the Jews in the German society and the anti-Semitic activities of the past month are not unexpected. The internal policy of Angela Merkel was meant to be visionary and creative but it looks more like uncertain, delayed, reactive, and unveils many large problem.

Rumble at the right

The “old” parties still underestimate the right wing AfD. The equally underestimate the potential of right wing populism and the count of German citizen having conservative/right wing thoughts – even within CDU and CSU. For example, much disregarded by politics the right wing union “Zentrum Automobil” gained six mandates during the last works committee elections in March 2018 at the Daimler (Mercedes) plant in Untertürkheim (Stuttgart) – with the result of 13.2% they achieved a similar result like the AfD during the election last year, the Bundestagswahlen. The “Forschungsgruppe Wahlen“ stated approximately 15% of the members of the politically social unions did voted for AfD instead for SPD during the last Bundestagswahlen. A result pretty much replicated during the works committee elections at Daimler.

The statements by some of the exponents of the works committee of the IG Metall union: right wing ideas today are little visible but are spread subliminal throughout the whole company and, therefore, it’s expected to see a further rise of the “Zentrum Automobil”. The confronted union IG Metall got us evasive responses only.It seems this issue is hushed up. Time will tell whether Angela Merkel tactics to sit such problem out are the successful tactics for the unions. Looking at the general tendency in the country towards the right we believe Angela Merkel and the unions both are playing with fire.

Some more foreign policy?

During the past Germany was known for a little consolidated, imprecise and often lacking foreign policy. Domestic policy always was more important and it still is. The country focuses on economic foreign policy driven by the industry and its lobbyists, and otherwise relies on symbolic policy geared towards the media.

This image could slightly change. One of the first official acts by Heiko Maas, the new foreign minister, was his visit to Israel. His predecessor Sigmar Gabriel several times acted awkwardly and Angela Merkel didn’t want to become involved but Heiko Maas clearly, pragmatically and quietly put down some counterpoints.On top of it he clearly took position against the lighting up anti-Semitism.

Despite his appearances sometimes being perceived as nicely stage-made he did not make his own life easier since expectations are high now. The quick and friendly meet up with the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Israel stirs up some hope Germany – after months of naval-gazing – finally will take over responsibility in Europe and the World. Moving from inactivity towards political creation with the friendly support by France.

The future of Angela Merkel

Foreign policy slowly picks up speed but Angela Merkel seems to have a hard time with her country. It no longer seems to be the Germany she knows. She seems to lose more ground contact the more she tries to understand the problems of society therefore losing more and more ground contact while facing fronts she has to fight. In the Bundestag CDU/CSU and SPD have to heavily deal with an number of parties, all of them having gained more than 5% of the votes. On top there is the AfD, the strongest party in the opposition owning an uncomfortable agenda – some of it even being attractive to her own party members.

With their vote for the Grand Coalition the SPD members have saved it and also saved the faces of SPD as well as the CDU/CSU. The SPD finds herself in a disruption and renovation process, even more so than the CDU. On top of it the parties of the opposition got stronger and this comes together with the incapability or the active reluctance of the governing parties to tackle the urging problems in the country in all consequence.

A forecast about the future of Angela Merkel and, therefore, of the German bipartisan system seems to be tricky. Though, the recent Grand Coalition steers towards the end of the factual bipartisan system in Germany. And people in Germany will be even more discontent for the next elections in 2021.The question how CDU/CSU and SPD will score is eligible. And whether the right wing AfD will establish itself as the third constant in the party landscape. The other question is whether the other parties will see the signs. Some media are singing the swan song for Angela Merkel forgetting she is not for nothing the most powerful woman in this world. It will be interesting to see how she will cope with the erosion on several fronts. It is not the end of Angela Merkel but she and her party are showing heavy signs of wear.

*Ajmal Sohail contributed to this article.

Source: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/04/10/do-angela-merkel-and-germany-have-a-joint-future/

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BERLIN – 18 December 2017: Germany on Monday said its continued support for Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government was contingent on peaceful efforts by both sides to resolve their differences.

The German government has provided more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in humanitarian, development and stabilisation aid to Iraq since 2014, making it one of the biggest international donors.

“Our support is for Iraq as a unified state,” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters after meeting with KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in Berlin.

“We want to continue that, but the precondition is that Iraq solves its internal conflicts peacefully and democratically, and that we find a way out of the tense situation we are in now.”

Gabriel noted that Germany had warned the Kurdish region against holding the Sept. 25 referendum, in which Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly to break away from Iraq, and said the goal was to restore dialogue between the two sides.

The Kurdish vote was rejected by Baghdad and triggered an Iraqi military offensive that recaptured disputed areas of the north from Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Gabriel said Berlin would push the government in Baghdad to respond to offers of dialogue by the KRG.

Barzani urged Germany to “play a stronger role in bringing us together”.

Barzani also thanked Germany for supporting his region’s fight against Islamic State, and training Peshmerga fighters.

The German parliament voted last week to extend its military mission in northern Iraq, around 150 strong, to the end of March to allow a new government to weigh a longer extension.

But the rise in tensions between Kurds and Baghdad has raised concern in Germany about the mission’s future.

After failing to agree on a new government with two smaller parties, Chancellor Angela Merkel is now trying to rebuild the “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats (SPD) that has ruled Germany for the past four years.

It is unclear if Gabriel, a former SPD leader, would stay on as foreign minister if the two blocs reach a deal.

Source: http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/37335/Germany-ties-Iraq-aid-to-peaceful-resolution-of-conflict-with

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People who stir up hatred against Jews or Israel also are attacking the German constitution, Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told German media after at least 10 people were arrested during the protests.

“Any kind of anti-Semitism is an attack on everyone. Anti-Semitism must never be allowed to have a place [in society] again,” Gabriel said.

Anti-Semitism and hate speech are very serious offenses in Germany due to the country’s role in the death of around 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. Germany has strict laws banning Nazi symbols and what Germans call volksverhetzung, which roughly translates to hate speech or incitement of the people.

Police brought charges against at least 12 people during Sunday’s protests, dubbed the Day of Rage, which took place outside the U.S. embassy in Berlin.

People were protesting Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Half of Jerusalem had been envisioned as the future capital of a Palestinian state, if a two-state solution were reached between Israel and Palestine. For many across the Middle East, Trump’s announcement on Wednesday put an end to any chance of a peace agreement by giving Israel what it wanted most without extracting any concessions.

Protests in Palestine and the Middle East over the last five days left four Palestinians dead and hundreds injured. Meanwhile, the State Department issued a safety warning for Americans traveling abroad, and the weekend saw an uptick in anti-Semitic attacks.

Three people were arrested in Sweden on Sunday for allegedly throwing firebombs at a synagogue in the city of Gothenburg. It was the second anti-Jewish attack in Sweden in just two days, and took place as people gathered to protest Trump’s Jerusalem announcement.

In Germany, Gabriel said he recognized people’s right to protest Trump’s decision, but that stirring up hatred against Jews or questioning Israel’s right to exist would not be tolerated.

Gabriel has been accused of belittling the importance of the Holocaust in the past. In April, he wrote an op-ed in a local newspaper claiming that social democrats, like the Jews, were victims of Nazism.

The opinion piece was attacked for making false equivalents and comparing the fate of persecuted Jews with that of a political group.

“Anyone with knowledge of the Final Solution is aware of the fact that the fate of European Jews under the Nazis was different than any of the other victims of the Nazis,” Dr Efraim Zuroff, an American-born Israeli historian, told The Jerusalem Post at the time.

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-burning-israeli-flags-attacking-jews-israel-germany-sweden-744426

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BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s trip to Europe, normally friendly territory, is underscoring the difficulties of defending Trump administration policies to skeptical allies and his own, much criticized management of the State Department.

Federica Mogherini, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, struck one of the first blows when on Tuesday she offered a strikingly unvarnished critique of two key administration policies. Standing beside Tillerson, she told reporters it would be unwise for the United States to back away from the Iran nuclear deal and suggested that moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would undermine Middle East peace efforts.

Tillerson also is facing criticism from within. At a routine meet-and-greet event with employees of the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, he defended administration policies and his own performance. He deviated from his standard speech outline to say that the State Department under his helm is “not missing a beat.” Moments later, he acknowledged a lack of major diplomatic successes, although he insisted that the groundwork has been laid.

“While we don’t have any wins on the board yet, I can tell you we’re in a much better position to advance America’s interests around the world than we were 10 months ago,” he said.

Increasingly, allies do not share that assessment. Tillerson is receiving a chilly, judgmental reception in Europe, startling for a diplomat representing a country that considers itself the leader of democracies with shared values and principles.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (fourth from left), German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (second from right) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (third from right) attend a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. (Virginia Mayo/AFP/Getty Images) 

Shortly after Tillerson arrived in Brussels, he was followed by a line of foreign ministers who uttered their disapproval.

Not long ago, it would have been rare for European allies to lay bare their differences so starkly. Tuesday’s criticisms were a measure of Europe’s diminished respect for the United States — and also the political benefits of hitting President Trump in front of European audiences that are deeply skeptical of the U.S. leader.

One after another, the top diplomats of Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg enumerated their disagreements about the Iran deal and Trump’s possible recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“That’s oil on the fire,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said as he walked into a meeting with Tillerson alongside other E.U. foreign ministers, referring to his government’s view about the consequence of recognizing Jerusalem. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders urged avoiding “any provocation” that might ensue.

[Trump policies starting to ‘crumble’ traditional U.S.-Europe ties, German foreign minister warns]

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel echoed the worry, hours after delivering a searing speech in Berlin that offered a deeply pessimistic view of the future of U.S.-German relations.

“The current U.S. withdrawal under Trump from its role as the reliable guarantor of Western multilateralism accelerates the change in the global order,” Gabriel said at the Körber Foundation in Berlin. The pullback “will not change fundamentally even after the next election.”

R.C. Hammond, a senior aide to Tillerson, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg disagreed with Gabriel’s assertion during a meeting with Tillerson that the European Union can go it alone. He said Stoltenberg told Tillerson that NATO depends on U.S. and British contributions to cover its military expenses.

Hammond also disputed the characterization that Tillerson’s counterparts showed any frostiness.

“That sounds like partners in communication,” he said of the public differences enumerated by diplomats.

“Allies have been very frank today in sharing some of their views,” he added. “Dialogues only work if they go two ways.”

Complicating his task, Tillerson arrived in Brussels, his first stop on a three-country trip, with his authority to speak for the administration under assault.

Last week, after months of mounting criticism that Tillerson’s remote management style and personnel decisions were gutting the State Department, White House officials let it be known that his tenure may be ending in a matter of weeks. The White House later denied wanting to get rid of Tillerson, and Tillerson himself dismissed the reports as “laughable.”

[White House readies plan to replace Tillerson with Pompeo at State, install Cotton at CIA]

Tillerson publicly appeared unruffled about the speculation about his political demise. He ignored a shouted question about whether he still speaks for the president. But the underlying discontent about his stewardship shadowed Tillerson throughout the day.

In his remarks to embassy staff members, a standard event designed to show appreciation for their work, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil suggested that he is nettled by downcast assessments of a State Department diminished under his leadership.

“We’re still awaiting a lot of nominees to clear the processes and be confirmed,” he said, referring to dozens of senior positions that are being filled temporarily by officials assuming “acting” roles. “I get a little criticism for that from time to time.”

Tillerson praised the staff members who have been pressed into duty running bureaus for the past 10 months, and said, “The State Department is not missing a beat, because we’re still working through the process.”

He told the assembled employees that within the next few weeks he will announce some of the changes expected by his State Department reorganization effort — “which everyone seems to be an expert on,” he added wryly.

Heading over to the European Union offices for talks with Mogherini and a lunch of duckling breast, Tillerson looked unfazed as Mogherini castigated Trump’s policies on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/tillerson-gets-chilly-reception-from-european-allies/2017/12/05/c494318c-d7b4-11e7-9ad9-ca0619edfa05_story.html

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The German Chancellor is already suffering from a damaged ego over a failure to form a coalition following September’s embarrassing election defeat.

And now Angela Merkel is struggling to maintain grip over her own party members from the Christian Democratic Union as the EU looks to its wealthiest country for leadership on governance reform within the bloc.

Fears were raised after German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt went against Mrs Merkel to vote in favour of a five-year extension for glyphosate, a controversial weedkiller, without consulting the chancellor.

It was also against objections of the Social Democrats (SPD) – who Mrs Merkel desperately hopes she can form a coalition with.

The controversial move shocked Brussels and even raised raised eyebrows among Germany’s counterparts, including the French Agriculture Minister Nicolas Hulot, who told politics news site Politico he was shocked that Germany “was not more solid”.

Reacting to the news, Mrs Merkel said: “As for the vote of the agriculture ministry yesterday on glyphosate, this did not comply with the instructions worked out by the federal government.”

Mrs Merkel has turned to the SPD after she failed to form a three-way coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the ecologist Greens.

And in another sign of her diminishing power, Michael Roth, a Social Democrat state secretary in the foreign ministry, voted against orders to back Dublin if Frankfurt’s bid failed in a vote over the future location of the European Banking Authority.

Mr Roth had in fact backed Paris, which went on to claim victory.

EU members are now watching on nervously as their de facto leader struggles to regain control within her own country, long considered the economic powerhouse of the EU.

One Brussels official said: “If this becomes a precedent, it could affect any number of issues in the coming months.”

Discussions surrounding Brexit are also creating deep divides in Germany as Britain’s decision to leave creates cracks in the EU powerhouse.

While Mrs Merkel fully backs EU Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat, has aligned himself more closely with the French.

It is believed French officials are beginning to become frustrated with Mrs Merkel’s reluctance to back Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious plans to reform.

And while the 39-year-old president ploughs ahead with his plans for further EU integration with the introduction of a Brussels army and shared defence budget, Mrs Merkel will attempt to form a government around a divided camp.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/886225/Angela-Merkel-Germany-German-elections-latest-EU-latest-news

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