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Angela Merkel Is Losing Her Touch at the Worst Possible Time
Posted
December 8, 2020
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5:19Now PlayingAt a critical juncture for Germany and the European Union, Angela Merkel is faltering.
In the final months of her 16-year tenure, the German chancellor is within touching distance of a historic budget settlement that would underpin the recovery from the pandemic, bind the EU closer together and accelerate the shift to a carbon-neutral future. It’s threatening to slip through her fingers.
For years, Merkel has allowed rule-of-law violations in Hungary and Poland to fester. Now they could derail the 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) budget and jointly funded recovery package that was supposed to be the centerpiece of Germany’s EU presidency. To make matters worse, the dispute with the U.K. over post-Brexit trade ties is overshadowing preparations for Thursday’s crucial EU summit and raising the risk of another economic shock.
With negotiations hamstrung by restrictions on face-to-face meetings, Merkel’s European allies are talking about pressing ahead with the recovery fund without the two eastern holdouts. That would open a breach at the heart of the EU, fuel concerns that more member states could ultimately follow Britain’s exit, and interrupt the reintegration of former Communist states that has been a leitmotif throughout the chancellor’s political career.
“We had imagined our presidency differently,” Merkel told European lawmakers last week. “The presidency is marked by the pandemic. That’s just the way it is, and you have to take things as they are.”
Dissenters within her party say the chancellor should shoulder some of the blame.
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