Angela Merkel’s decision to run for a fourth term has prompted widespread resignation across Germany’s political spectrum, with even her Bavarian allies saying the decision prompted “respect but not exactly euphoria”.
Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), junior coalition partner for the second time under Dr Merkel, said her decision to run again was “completely unsurprising”.
“After almost 12 years, it’s clear that Dr Merkel has run out of steam,” said Katarina Barley, SPD general secretary.
Federal family minister Manuela Schwesig, a rising SPD star who sees Dr Merkel at weekly cabinet meetings, said her government boss “had her achievements but no longer stands for the future”.
The SPD has yet to announce its Merkel challenger, a decision it has promised next January, nor has it ruled in or out a Merkel-beating centre-left coalition with the Greens and Left Party.
The two front-runners for the SPD candidacy are party leader Sigmar Gabriel or European Parliament president Martin Schulz.
In the opposition benches, hoping for a change of government after next September’s election, the widespread view was that Dr Merkel was running again because she had no better idea of what to do, but had no new ideas to secure climate-change agreements or to tackle rising right-wing populism.
“She has stayed true to herself and was unable to make clear why she wants to run a fourth time,” said Anton Hofreiter, co-leader of the Greens.
Refugee crisis
Opinion poll agencies said that, with Dr Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) some 10 points behind their 2013 result, the German leader was far from unbeatable in the 2017 federal election.
"The refugee crisis has created a serious mood swing, the CDU has lost every fourth vote," said Hermann Binkert, of the INSA polling agency to Bild. Increasingly, he said, Dr Merkel's "presidential style" polarises German voters.
The main beneficiary of a rising anti-Merkel mood is the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). With steady, double-digit support in opinion polls, its leaders welcomed Dr Merkel’s renewed candidacy.
“Standing for re-election is the woman who caused the multibillion, dangerous migration crisis,” said Frauke Petry, AfD co-leader.
After emerging from the euro crisis, a study of the AfD published yesterday suggested the refugee crisis had not just grown its supporters but radicalised them.
Negative image
The study, by the SPD-allied Friedrich Ebert Foundation found that almost three-quarters of AfD supporters had a negative image of asylum seekers, up from 57 per cent in 2014. Some 28 per cent of all Germans now hold anti-elitist, “neo-right wing” protest views, the study found, rising to 84 per cent among AfD voters.
Across the media reaction to Dr Merkel’s announcement, there was widespread agreement that, after 11 years in power, the German leader may be past her untouchable peak but still leagues ahead of the competition.
“Did anyone understand why Angela Merkel wants to run again and what she wants to do in the next four years in office? I didn’t,” wrote Dirk Kurbjuweit, commentator for Spiegel Online. “We can expect Merkel to simply plod on, and that can’t be the solution.”
