Even before presenting a plan on Wednesday for his government, Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, persuaded Parliament to bypass constitutional limits to let him spend more on Germany’s military. This led observers to point out that any new German…
Germany’s centrist parties announced on Wednesday that they had formally reached a coalition agreement to allow Friedrich Merz, a conservative, to take the reins as chancellor at a tumultuous moment when Europe’s economic and security order is being upended. Since…
Two days after a coalition of conservatives won Germany’s federal election last month, the governor of Bavaria took to Instagram to say the parties were “ready for political change” and posted a group picture of the likely future chancellor, Friedrich…
The German Parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on a plan to loosen government borrowing limits in order to spend heavily on defense and infrastructure, in an effort to offset America’s pivot away from Europe and to lift the…
Germany’s centrist politicians are losing votes to the far right and the far left. They are losing faith in America, their longtime friend and protector. And they are rapidly losing what could be their best chance to address both those…
In Britain, a languishing prime minister is suddenly a statesman, while his up-and-coming populist rival has been thrown on his heels. In Canada, the incumbent Liberal Party has a chance to win an election long thought out of reach. In…
Three and a half decades after reunification, a line runs through Germany where the Iron Curtain once stood. Instead of barbed wires and dogs, that line now divides Germans by measures like income and unemployment — and increasingly by the…
The hard-right Alternative for Germany might not have done as well in Sunday’s election as its leaders had hoped, but its groundbreaking performance was enough for a congratulatory phone call from Elon Musk. Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate for the…
Germany’s presumptive next chancellor could be weak from the start, for all sorts of reasons. He didn’t win a particularly high share of votes. Most Germans don’t think he’ll make a great leader. Many of the people who backed his…
Germany is getting a new chancellor. Its current leader is heading out of power, but his party probably will stick around in a diminished capacity. And the Trump administration’s efforts to influence the vote don’t seem to have done much.…
