How Germany’s Election Could Go Dangerously Wrong
Who leads Germany matters less than the shape of the ruling coalition. One possibility gives the country and its friends cause for concern.
Scholz or Laschet — plus who else?
Photographer: David Hecker/Getty Images
As voters in Europe’s largest economy go to the polls, much is at stake for their country, their continent and the world. After 16 years as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel is bowing out. No obvious successor has emerged. Nor is a winner likely to be clear right after polls close. Coalition talks could consume the country for some time, keeping its government in limbo. Note that the form of the coalition that eventually emerges will matter more than who leads it — and don’t assume all will be well.
Outsiders are apt to view the contest as resembling an American or French presidential election — a race between individuals where all that counts is who becomes chancellor. Seen like that, it boils down to a choice between Armin Laschet, a state governor from the center-right CDU/CSU bloc, or Olaf Scholz, the finance minister and a Social Democrat. The two are more similar than they’d care to admit: pragmatic, centrist and cautious, but also uncharismatic, underwhelming and unambitious.