Merkel more vulnerable than assumed

Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered in part heavy losses on Sunday in the parliamentary elections in the German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saarland. The daily Delo analyses the impact this will have on the federal elections slated for September: "Sunday has shown that the elections to the Bundestag, or federal parliament, have not been won yet, and that Angela Merkel is more vulnerable than many had assumed. Nevertheless she is clearly convinced that the weak Social Democrats [SPD], whose internal conflicts are causing them to lose votes to The Left party, will not be able to reverse the tide. In addition, like any power-hungry politician she still has more scenarios at her disposal than the SPD. Should she be unable to form a coalition with the [business-oriented] FDP, she also has the option of forming another grand coalition under her leadership. Such a CDU-SPD government, which it seems everyone is now at pains to avoid, proved successful in Germany's fight against the economic crisis. For that reason this solution seems all the more likely."

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