Why German Markets Aren’t Worried About Angela Merkel. Yet.
“But we do need a capable government to deal with the severe challenges we face at the European level in the next two years.”
Ms. Merkel, Germany’s leader for more than a decade, emerged as a major global figure in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.
This week Germany’s Social Democrats were reconsidering their decision not to continue a coalition government with Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
While Germany does not have any serious economic problems
that require wrenching policy changes, it faces rising longer-term challenges like an aging work force, the emergence of China as an industrial competitor and the need to invest in digital networks and a better power grid to stay relevant.
“She hasn’t done anything against business, on the other side she hasn’t done a lot for business,” Mr. Wiechers said.
But during her 12 years in office, Ms. Merkel has largely been coasting on reforms to the labor market
and social welfare system undertaken by her Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, at great cost to his political career.