2024-07-30
5 分钟The Economist Hello, this is Rosie Bloor,
co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
We've chosen an article from the latest edition of The Economist that we thought you might enjoy.
Please do have a listen.
punch-drunk from one crisis to the next, there was one constant – Germany.
And in particular, Angela Merkel, its Chancellor,
was the star around which the rest of Europe orbited.
Southern European countries choked on the austerity they had to swallow as the price of their bailouts.
Easterners wished Mrs Merkel had taken a tougher line on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
all had a point, yet none had any way of working around Germany.
Visit Brussels now, however, and all you hear is stories of German ineptitude.
The dysfunction of Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition is spilling over into Europe,
complicating day-to-day business as Germany's governing parties bicker and feud.
Old alliances are being reshaped as Germany's friends work around it.
As Chancellor,
Mr. Scholz appears to have no aptitude for Mrs. Merkel's patient approach to deal making.
At summits of EU leaders,
he states the German position and appears surprised when others fail to fall into line.
Dashed expectations of German leadership are neither new nor easily overcome.