A country without an opposition

The liberal conservative daily Corriere della Sera calls Sunday's television duel "between the Number One and the Number Two of the current government" the climax of a "peculiar" German election campaign: "Chancellor Angela Merkel against Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Nobody won. ... They couldn't cast themselves as adversaries and didn't bother trying. ... Both dressed in black ... the candidates staged what was in some respects a fascinating debate. The two biggest German parties, the CDU/CSU and the SPD ... have similar, almost indistinguishable positions on a majority of key questions. And yesterday evening's confrontation could only reflect that. That is a sign of the true maturity of German democracy. Absolute respect for the opponent and shared positions on issues that count. ... Nevertheless it's a bit of a peculiar situation: yesterday evening Germany was like a country without an opposition."

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