THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 2, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
The Economist
The Economist
1 May 2025


NextImg:Germany’s staid-seeming new chancellor has a mercurial streak
Europe | Buttoned-down caprice

Germany’s staid-seeming new chancellor has a mercurial streak

Friedrich Merz’s career is one of unforced errors and puzzling missteps. But he is serious about Europe

|BERLIN

WHEN FRIEDRICH MERZ takes office as the tenth chancellor of the German Republic on May 6th, it will mark the culmination of a winding journey full of missteps and tumbles. So often the nearly-man of German politics, the 69-year-old Mr Merz has made no shortage of enemies over his long career—none greater than himself. The centrist coalition he has negotiated will begin its work amid economic and geopolitical tumult, and will be led by a man whose own character makes his approach to the job difficult to predict.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Buttoned-down caprice”

This illustration shows a grand, European-style building with an EU flag on top, perched on a large floating rock above the ocean. The rock is crumbling, with small pieces falling off. The sky is bright with scattered clouds.

The unbearable self-indulgence of Europe

There are five luxuries it can no longer feasibly afford

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko sign a deal that will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals

A mineral deal with America points to a path ahead for Ukraine

Both Donald Trump and Ukraine’s diplomats will consider it a success



100 days of Trump: the growing dismay in Europe

Donald Trump’s insults have soured the continent on its cousins 

The pope’s last coded message

Trump and Zelensky attend in Rome with 250,000 others

Ukraine’s fighters fear Russian attacks and America’s ceasefire

On the front line they want peace, but not at any price