Generosity suits Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel long rejected the idea of Joachim Gauck as German president, but the generosity and pragmatism revealed by her decision on Sunday evening show her in a favourable light, writes the liberal daily Kurier: "Her instinct for the mood among the people is often better than her instinct for what her own supporter base wants, where top functionaries from her core Catholic strongholds in the south didn't want another Eastern German Protestant heading the state. Even if his message of optimism, love of liberty and self-confident patriotism was more suited to the Christian Democrats that to the [opposition] Social Democrats. The opposition will no doubt derive some satisfaction from this late victory. But it doesn't seem to have done Merkel much harm: generosity suits her and does not go unrewarded in politics. Cool pragmatism has always been her trademark anyway. And in future it will be up to Gauck to inspire political emotion."

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