Is Merkels Germany a headless chicken?
Published Date: June 02, 2010 By Helen Maguire Chancellor Angela Merkel’s surprise at President Horst Koehler’s resignation cast into sharp relief her loose grip on the problems within her unpopular and unruly government coalition, which faces huge economic challenges at home and abroad. Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the junior Free Democrats (FDP) must agree in coming days how to slash public expenditure in the face of record debt, whilst coming under international pressure to stimulate demand, in the midst of euro currency’s most serious thr eat to date. Things cannot continue like this forever,” Merkel admitted to public ARD/ZDF broadcasters yesterday, adding however that her coalition was due to make key decisions at a meeting scheduled next week. When Koehler announced his resignation from the largely ceremonial role on Monday, he blamed the fierce criticism he was exposed to, after addressing what many consider to be an unspoken reality, that German economic interests ca
