Christian Democrat continuity candidate Armin Laschet is struggling to live up to his briefAngela Merkel’s shoe size is 38, she revealed to a rain-sodden, momentarily confused audience at an election rally on the Baltic coast on Tuesday night. That is …
16 years in 16 words: the sayings that sum up Merkel’s Germany
Refugees, Russian sympathisers and half-dressed footballers: Germany’s forever chancellor had words for them allAngela Merkel’s 16-year tenure at the top of German politics will leave lasting legacies in many fields, but the art of political oratory is…
Brexit made an unlikely hero of Angela Merkel for Britain’s remainers | Rafael Behr
The German chancellor’s record is mixed, but her exit brings home how adrift Europhiles in the UK now areAngela Merkel is used to being unimpressed by British prime ministers. She was appalled by David Cameron’s casual surrender of influence in Europe,…
How the refugee crisis created two myths of Angela Merkel | Daniel Trilling
The right says the German chancellor undermined EU security; Liberals say it was a triumph. But her legacy is far more mixedWhen Angela Merkel steps down as chancellor after Germany’s elections later this month, the tributes will centre on her role as …
The Guardian view on Angela Merkel: farewell to a bulwark of stability | Editorial
Though sometimes overly cautious, the German chancellor has been a standard bearer for a consensual way of doing politicsOne of the most emblematic political photographs of recent times was taken during a G7 summit in Canada in 2018. Leaning forward ac…
Climate top of the agenda as knife-edge race to lead Germany enters final stage
Cheers and jeers greet political rivals trying to succeed Merkel, as they chase green votes in the former DDRAs Annalena Baerbock steps on to the stage, the downpour that minutes before had soaked those gathered on Chemnitz’s Theater Platz ceases. The …
Merkel urges Germans to back her party’s choice of successor
Outgoing chancellor implores public to pick Armin Laschet over his surging centre-left rivalAngela Merkel has used what is likely to be her last speech in the German parliament to make her most impassioned intervention in the electoral race so far, urg…
‘Scholz will sort it’ – the catchphrase winning the hearts of German voters
A savvy electoral campaign against two lacklustre opponents has put the SPD leader ahead in the polls to succeed Angela MerkelOf all the political posters and billboards that line the streets of German towns and cities this late summer, the ones most l…
The Guardian view on Germany’s election: struggling to move on from Merkel | Editorial
The shadow of the departing chancellor looms over a contest too close to callIn September 1998, when a relatively youthful Gerhard Schröder defeated Helmut Kohl and ended his 16-year reign as German chancellor, the victorious leader of the Social Democ…
Angela Merkel scores higher in approval ratings than any current world leader
Exclusive: of six countries surveyed, poll reveals chancellor is most appreciated for handling of German economy Almost 16 years after she first became Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel’s approval ratings in five major European countries and the Unit…