German politics is in turmoil, since on February 10, Angela Merkel´s designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (57), stepped down as leader of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and also announced that she would not be available for the position as Chancellor. She will stay on as Germany’s defense minister and help organize the selection process … [Read more...] about Merkel’s Succession wide open
How Macron Won It All
The French did it again. By recalling Christine Lagarde, who has served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2011, from Washington and throwing her into the race to succeed Mario Draghi as head of the European Central Bank, French President Emanuel Macron effectively won the real power game in the competition for the top European positions after the May … [Read more...] about How Macron Won It All
Europe’s Forever Unfinished Banking Union
The Deutsche-Commerzbank merger fiasco sheds light on how weak Germany’s private banking sector remains a decade after the financial crisis, in a national market dominated by highly competitive customer-oriented savings banks and cooperative banks. On April 25, 2019, both banks announced that their management boards had come to the conclusion that a German government-supported … [Read more...] about Europe’s Forever Unfinished Banking Union
Germany’s China Dilemma
At a recent weekend, the leaders of the present German coalition government, still headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, gathered in Berlin to discuss why they have lost millions of voters in recent elections. Merkel’s party union is still struggling with the refugee open border disaster, while the Social Democrats proposed a fundamental overhaul of Germany’s social state, … [Read more...] about Germany’s China Dilemma
Merkel Scrambles for The Exit
In late October, the day after the Christian Democratic Union in the state of Hesse suffered double-digit losses, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of the CDU executive council that she would not stand again as candidate to head the CDU at the coming party convention in Hamburg in early December of this year. She later went before the national press and explained … [Read more...] about Merkel Scrambles for The Exit