Anxiety over Chancellor Merkel's health
For the second time in eight days German Chancellor Angela Merkel was caught on camera suffering a bout of shaking. The incident has prompted media to speculate about the chancellor's health and the consequences of the stabilising politician's potentially withdrawing from politics. Others say the incident is being blown out of proportion.
Her era is drawing to an end
The German chancellor's decision to withdraw from politics may also be linked to ill health, Germany correspondent Paolo Valentino speculates in Corriere della Sera:
“Two crises coming so quickly one after the other raise serious questions and concerns about the chancellor's future. ... It is hard to dismiss the idea that the reason for Angela Merkel's refusal to take up a new post in Germany or Europe once she steps down as chancellor may be related to a health issue - caused by fourteen years in power with work and stress levels that would be unsustainable for any normal person.”
Coalition fighting for survival
In view of the political situation in Germany the chancellor's health issues have people very much on edge, Polityka explains:
“If she decides to suddenly leave politics this will almost certainly mean the end of the coalition and early elections. And neither the Christian Democrats nor the Social Democrats want that. The former are afraid they could be defeated by the Green Party and lose the chancellorship. The latter are in an even worse state. Polls put their popularity rating at just over ten percent, and on the left side of the political spectrum they're well behind the Greens.”
Angela will shake things up
Merkel will only be able to put an end to all the hype and speculation with an equally exaggerated coup, comedian Wouter Deprez scoffs in De Standaard:
“The poor woman has been zoomed in on mercilessly. ... It would be useless to react to all the media hype and crazy analyses with arguments. So she would be better off doing some exaggeration of her own: at the next important public event, when she knows all the cameras are lying in wait, she should start trembling like crazy. ... When the paramedics arrive Angela pulls two things out of her bra: a glass and a cocktail shaker. She then pours herself a Bloody Mary with a steady hand after having shaken it up perfectly. Then she drinks down the blood-red cocktail in one go and calls to the cameras: 'Cheers!'”