Angst and Ballots

For the past two years, German television has been featuring a comedy/drama TV series called Miss Merkel. In it, a bored Angela Merkel, in retirement after 16 years as chancellor, becomes an amateur sleuth and solves murders in her small town in the Uckermark district of northeastern Germany.

Played by an actress with a startling resemblance to the former chancellor of the country, it is charming, funny, and a little wacky.

Some say they aren’t surprised that a TV show is channeling her. Many Germans these days long for the stability under the steady hand of the pragmatic, often-bland politician often dubbed “Mutti” (mommy).

“Yes, she was pretty boring,” one voter told GlobalPost, explaining that he always votes for the center-left Social Democrats instead of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). “But I miss her.”

That’s because many Germans feel like the country is spiraling out of control. For example, elections during Merkel’s reign were orderly and somewhat predictable. However, the run-up to snap elections on Feb. 23 has been anything but.

A Russian “sabotage spree” blamed on climate activists and also a disinformation campaign have been in full throttle for the first time during a major German election, according to a German government report obtained by Politico. At the same time, US advisor and entrepreneur Elon Musk’s influence campaign in favor of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has rattled the establishment and many voters. Recently, a court granted German plaintiffs access to Musk-owned X’s engagement data after two German civil society groups accused the platform of blocking their efforts to track potential election interference.

Also, high-profile attacks and murders committed by migrants and refugees over the past year – the latest just last week – have given the AfD party a surge in the polls to become the country’s second-largest party. Anti-immigrant sentiment has been continually rising as Germany has accepted almost a million migrants and refugees since 2015.

Meanwhile, the CDU’s candidate for chancellor and current frontrunner, Friedrich Merz, broke a taboo recently, crossing the “firewall” on working with the AfD to use their support to attempt to pass legislation tightening up migration controls.

Since the end of World War II, there has been a consensus among Germany’s main political parties to never work with neo-Nazi parties, explained Deutsche Welle. After the vote, the CDU’s support fell by two points. Even so, US officials criticized such a “firewall” as a blow to liberty and free speech while delivering a speech in Germany last week.

Regardless, the move by Merz infuriated many Germans, including Merkel, and ignited huge demonstrations.

All this has been a lot for a society that values stability and deliberateness over change and drama, say observers.

It’s also a distraction for a country that has huge issues to solve.

For years, Germany’s successful model of political and economic stability has been based on three pillars: a strong export-oriented economy that benefited from a stable international order, cheap gas from Russia, and a security regime that was largely dependent on NATO, wrote World Politics Review: “Now, virtually all the pillars on which this model was built are disappearing or have already dissolved.”

As a result, Germany has been experiencing its longest period of economic stagnation in its postwar history, with its economy shrinking for a second straight year in 2024. It saw the slowest growth of all the G7 economies. This situation is resurrecting a moniker from the late 1990s, with some wondering, “Is Germany Once Again the Sick Man of Europe?” Maybe, say experts.

“Germany is struggling,” the International Monetary Fund said.

Germany suffered more than its European counterparts when Western sanctions hit oil and gas exports from Russia – traditionally its main supplier, as well as a major trade partner. German officials say the dismal picture is due to multiple crises, including historically elevated levels of inflation, high interest rates, and weak domestic and foreign demand for German goods.

Others counter that the problems also stem from a huge surplus of private savings with little public investment at home, the country’s minuscule role in the digital economy, and an aging workforce atop a persistent shortage of skilled labor, wrote the Financial Times.

Other issues for the export-led economy are competition from China and an international system moving toward protectionism and tariffs instead of free trade. Analysts say Germany needs to fundamentally rethink its business model, namely its dependence on exports, adopt new technologies, and increase public investment. That’s a call for long-term restructuring. In the short term, if the US puts tariffs on German products, it will pummel the German economy. Of all the economies in the European Union, it’s Germany has the largest trade surplus with the US.

Meanwhile, solving Germany’s issues is harder because of its coalition governments. The government of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell last fall because its three-party coalition could not agree on how to move forward. That’s also going to be a problem for Merz, should he become the next chancellor.

To date, it’s unclear if the CDU will win the most votes. It is clear, polls show, that it won’t win enough to govern without a coalition. However, the “firewall” won’t allow it to work with the likely second-largest vote-getter, the AfD, so Germany may end up where it was last year, with an awkward coalition that can’t agree on how to move the country forward.

To some extent, even the competent, underestimated former chancellor, Merkel, with her knack for getting everyone in line and taking out her opponents, couldn’t figure out how to do that either, even though most commentators and even her opponents have noted how masterful a tactician she was when it came to politics.

Author David Safier, who wrote the bestselling Miss Merkel books that spun off into the TV series, told NPR that Merkel was a cut above German politicians today, with qualities that make her a perfect detective. “Merkel is highly intelligent, much more intelligent than other politicians,” he said. “She is strongheaded. And, after 30 years in politics, she’s used to dealing with sociopaths and psychopaths.”

Still, in the most recent installment of the series, Merkel, who stepped down in 2021, goes to a therapist after feeling down. She was in despair that she neglected to solve a number of issues in the country during her time in office.