Why Merkel is so unpopular at home.

last updated 8 January 2015

Germany

Pierre Bocev

Everybody loves German Chancellor Angela Merkel—except the Germans, said Pierre Bocev in France’s Le Figaro. Americans, Britons, and French see her as genial and savvy, and as a rock of stability “compared with their own lame-duck leaders.” At home, though, public opinion is “overwhelmingly negative.” But that’s not Merkel’s fault; the culprit is the “grand coalition” between her center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats. Both major parties have compromised so much in order to cohabit in this “marriage against nature” that neither has a recognizable platform. The result: Both are losing voters to more extreme, fringe parties. Leftist workers are fleeing the Social Democrats, while conservative Catholics are turning against the Christian Democrats. As the governing parties bicker and point fingers, Merkel has kept herself “stoically above the fray.” She lost her temper only once, when Social Democrat Peter Struck came to her to apologize for having said publicly that he thought Gerhard Schröder had been a better chancellor. “I don’t give a crap what you think,” Merkel informed him. And perhaps she needn’t. In the coming year, Merkel will find herself holding the rotating presidencies of both the European Union and the Group of Eight. When Germans see how respectfully the rest of the world treats their leader, they will surely be impressed.