Angela Merkel wears two hats. As the elected leader of the largest and most powerful nation within the EU, she is expected to maintain a steady, unambitious course and impose German frugality on the spendthrifts. As the unelected head of the EU, she is required to put her own country’s interests aside and work for the common good. Is it any wonder she struggles to reconcile these tasks?
Merkel is the antithesis of a visionary. She has no great and enduring dream for the EU. She is very skilled, however, at finding the lowest common denominator, and fending off existential crises. Whether it be Russia, China, Trump, immigration, recession, or the euro, she has always managed to keep the EU afloat, even if it doesn’t have much of a direction.
So what happens when she leaves? The EU’s institutions don’t work very well. There is little sense of a common purpose. Macron has a vision, but insufficient clout to make it happen. The divisions between the tightfisted, prosperous Teutons and the struggling, big spending Mediterranean countries, and between the liberal and illiberal democracies, aren’t diminishing over time. Will her successor have the same ability to patch the holes in the ship of state?
Probably not, which means more rough times ahead.