What a difference four years makes. In 2021, the world watched the German elections to see who would succeed the EU’s uncrowned “queen”. Angela Merkel had become a symbol of liberal democracy in the era marked by the first Trump administration. In Germany, two colourless figures explicitly vied to replace her. Deep down everyone knew that German leadership in Europe was coming to an end. But no one could have foreseen how steep the fall would be.
Today, Germany is a country struggling with itself, increasingly sidelined in Europe and the world. The second Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 largely destroyed Merkel’s rosy legacy, exposing her opportunistically soft approach to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. Under Merkel’s Social Democratic party (SPD) successor, Olaf Scholz, the country has become as pale and uninspiring as the chancellor himself.
