Constantin Eckner

As Angela Merkel enters her final year in office, the German chancellor faces one of her most difficult challenges amid the rise of coronavirus infections. Germany was rightfully praised for how it managed the pandemic early on, recording a steep drop in infections after the initial outbreak in March. However, for the past two months, infections have been increasing again – much to the concern of Merkel and political leaders across the country who were keen to ease restrictions on businesses and citizens.

German politicians have been understandably fired up about Boris Johnson’s plan to breach the Brexit treaty. While the relationship between the two countries already suffered during the Brexit negotiations, allies of chancellor Angela Merkel are astonished by Johnson’s recent actions. They believe that the UK will become an unreliable partner if the treaty will be broken. However, one lawmaker from Merkel’s Christian Democrats went a step too far in condemning Britain.  Backbencher Detlef Seif has made some waves in recent times with his statements on Brexit and EU politics. But nothing is likely to surpass his comment this week as to what is unfolding across the North Sea.

As Europe weighs what course to take in the face of Beijing’s growing belligerence, it has become increasingly clear that the decision depends on Berlin. Germany is China’s most important counterpart on the continent. Unfortunately for Europe, it is equally clear that Germany’s economic entanglement with China has become so extensive that reversing it is no longer a realistic option. Germany’s big industrial powerhouses, including Volkswagen and the engineering conglomerate Siemens, were among the first European companies that made the jump to China in the 1980s and have benefited from the unparalleled economic growth in the East. However, over the years the likes of Volkswagen and Siemens developed an unhealthy economic dependency on the Chinese market.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confirmed that tests showed ‘unequivocally’ that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a military-grade novichok nerve agent. Germany became involved in the affair when Navalny was transported to the Charité hospital in Berlin two weeks ago. But, while Berlin decided to reveal the test result and called on the Russian government to provide answers about what happened to Navalny, this could easily become a typical case of German diplomacy. Critics of the government in Germany like to call its actions on the international level ‘zahnlos’, which can be translated as ‘toothless’ – its actions lack teeth to hurt another power, or at least leave a bite mark.

Germany has been in uproar over the events that unfolded this Saturday, when 38,000 protesters gathered in Berlin and clashed with the police. The organisers of the gathering, entitled Umdenken (Rethinking), claimed they wanted to show their frustration at government measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Among the 38,000 were at least 3,000 far-right sympathisers and extremists, according to Berlin’s interior minister. The run-up to Saturday’s protests was already marked by controversy, as Berlin’s local government had initially banned the gathering due to concerns that the event could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus.

As Britain’s furlough scheme winds down, Germany’s is set to continue: Merkel’s government has announced that its enormously-expensive policy will stay in place until the end of next year. Hubertus Heil, the country’s finance minister, says furloughing offers ‘the stablest bridge over a deep economic valley’. Many in Britain are clamouring for Rishi Sunak to adopt the same approach. But with a price tag of 30 billion euros (£26 billion) and no guarantee it will prevent a surge in unemployment, is Germany’s strategy really a sensible one? This isn’t the first time Germany is hoping furloughing workers can get it out of a crisis.

The timing for Germany’s school-leaving exams couldn’t have been worse this year. Typically, the exams including the Abitur – equivalent of A-levels – take place between March and June to give school leavers enough time to apply for apprenticeships or a place at university as the winter term starts in October. This year, however, the outbreak of the corona pandemic caused schools across Germany to close, casting doubt on whether final exams could take place. In Germany, the 16 federal states are in charge of education policy which usually creates a mosaic of regulations, exceptions and exam schedules.

The Pentagon will fulfil President Trump’s demand to move almost 12,000 US troops out of Germany. About 6,400 forces will be brought home and 5,400 shifted to other countries in Europe. While Pentagon officials claim the action is part of a plan to strategically 'reposition' forces in Europe, the move is widely seen as an attempt by Donald Trump to punish Germany for its supposed failure to spend more on defence. Trump announced last month that he wanted to cut the number of active duty US troops in Germany from roughly 36,000 to slightly more than 24,000. His comments indicated that the move was tied more directly to his anger over Germany’s failure to meet Nato defence spending goals.

Germany's government had been busy making big plans about all that it wanted to achieve during its EU council presidency which started this week. But then Covid-19 hit, and all these ideas went out the window. Now the talk in Brussels is that Germany’s council presidency has turned into a ‘corona presidency’. But what will this mean for the future of the EU? Angela Merkel admitted recently that coronavirus has exposed 'how fragile the European project is’. After the mortal shock of Brexit, the EU tried to show confidence about the future. Brussels tried to punch above its weight, taking on tech giants like Google and Apple. But now the pandemic has transformed the EU from policymaker into big money spender.

Brits are still waiting for their coronavirus track and trace app. Meanwhile, Germany’s version is up and running. But although Germany appears to have beaten Britain again when it comes to tackling the threat of coronavirus, not all Germans are happy with the new app. The app’s launch coincides with the further easing of lockdown restrictions in Germany, so its success is critical to Merkel’s hopes of keeping her country's coronavirus death toll relatively low in comparison with elsewhere. It operates by issuing a warning to those who have come into contact with someone who subsequently tests positive for the virus.

Tensions between Germany and the United States have increased considerably since Donald Trump became president. Trump has repeatedly criticised Berlin for a variety of things, most vocally accusing the German government of failing to pay its way on defence. Trump has said that Europe’s Nato members, including Germany, should no longer rely so heavily on the US to shoulder the costs of maintaining the alliance. The debate has focused on the target agreed by all alliance members that defence spending should reach 2 per cent of each country’s GDP by 2024. Germany’s military expenditure equalled 1.4 per cent of its GDP in 2019.

Coronavirus is grim news for all major economies and Germany is no exception. The country’s economic output decreased by 2.2 per cent during the first quarter of the year, the sharpest fall since the 2008 crash and the second biggest since German reunification in 1990. A double-digit dip in the second quarter, when the full impact of the lockdown restrictions introduced in March become more visible, seems likely. But while Germany is not alone in facing up to grim economic statistics, it is using its economic clout – unavailable to poorer countries in Europe – to try and spend its way out of the crisis. Many German employers have been able to switch staff to shorter working hours during the outbreak, avoiding mass layoffs, under the terms of a government rescue package.

Germany’s national parliament has made the public burning of the European Union flag and flags of foreign countries punishable by up to three years in jail, classing it as a hate crime. In a vote last Thursday, the German parliament made the act of defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag. The new law also applies to acts of defilement other than burning, such as publicly ripping a flag up. The initiative for this legislative change dates back to 2017 when protesters in Berlin burned the Israeli flag to emphasise their outrage about the United States’ support of Israel, causing indignation in parts of German federal politics.

Where Brits have voiced their opposition to the coronavirus lockdown, they've mostly done so from their own homes over the internet. But some Germans who are unhappy at the restrictions imposed to thwart the spread of the virus are adopting a more radical approach. Demonstrators gathered in Munich, Stuttgart and other German cities last Saturday to protest coronavirus-related measures. Now these rallies look set to become just the beginning of a wave of protests demanding the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.  It's true that other countries around the world look to Germany, which has done well in managing the current crisis, as a model of best practice. Yet plenty of people here are unhappy with the continuation of lockdown measures.

Angela Merkel unveiled a new phase of Germany's strategy for dealing with coronavirus last night. Much of what she said was already widely known, but the nuances of what she announced were still revealing. Two households will now be able to meet up with each other. Football – albeit behind closed doors – is back on. Restaurants and hotels will reopen within the next few weeks. And people in care homes will be allowed one visitor. ‘All in all, it is a balanced decision’, Merkel said in typical Merkel fashion after the meeting between the government and Germany's 16 federal states where the next phase was thrashed out. In reality, however, Germany is witnessing a major shift in its approach to the crisis, as Berlin is no longer in charge.

Germany has led the way in its approach to combating the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s intense programme of consistent testing from early on has resulted in far fewer deaths than the worst-affected countries. It was only logical then that Angela Merkel’s cabinet and Germany’s 16 state governments would ease the lockdown sooner than others. But that decision could now backfire. Shortly before schools and retailers were allowed to re-open, the country’s basic reproduction rate, indicating how many new cases one infected person generates on average, was at 0.7 following a steady decrease in the weeks of confinement. Now the number has rebounded to 0.9 or 1.0. If the value goes above 1.

The European Union has done it again. Last Thursday, member states agreed on an aid package of more than half a trillion euros (£436bn). A good portion of that money will be used to revitalise the economies in Italy and Spain, the two European countries that have suffered the most deaths due to the virus so far. But the recovery fund was only made possible because the agreement avoided an explicit mention of jointly-issued debt, which has been anathema to Germany, Finland or the Netherlands. ‘It is impossible that debt could be communitised’, Angela Merkel said after the package was announced.

Like her or not, Angela Merkel has managed Germany’s response to the coronavirus pandemic commendably. The long-time chancellor usually appears to be anything but energetic, yet her serious demeanour is perfect for a leader during such an exceptional crisis. And Germany has benefited as a result. Yet as much as Merkel's current crisis management has been praised, her time in office will certainly end following Germany’s general election in the autumn of 2021. Senior members of her party have tried to persuade Merkel into continuing for four more years, but given her health and the fact that she has grown tired of the job after 15 years on top with all the highs and lows, there is almost no chance she changes her mind. The search for a successor started a while ago.

Germans eagerly awaited Angela Merkel’s announcement this week about a potential exit strategy for Germany, the country with one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in Europe. Many Germans expected a turning point and a possible return to everyday life. What they got was only a first small step back to normal. Initially the chancellor said that the lockdown would be eased if confirmed coronavirus cases only doubled every tenth day. The current doubling time is over a month. But Merkel and the 16 state prime ministers jointly decided to extend most of the measures until early May. Only shops and retailers up to a size of 800 square metres, zoos, libraries, and car dealerships can reopen soon. Hotels, theatres, cinemas, and churches remain closed until further notice.