Europe | Angela Merkel’s power

Angela regina

The German chancellor may wobble, but not for the reasons widely assumed

|BERLIN

ON AUGUST 19th, hours before jetting off to Brazil for more of the statesmanship the world associates with her, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, sat waiting in the Bundestag. Germany’s parliament had to approve a third bail-out of Greece since 2010. As usual she ostentatiously fiddled with her mobile phone whenever the opposition attacked her, while putting on an inscrutable expression. But she was probably pondering two numbers.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Angela regina”

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