Angela Merkel, a powerful advocate for international cooperation, has been the de facto EU leader for the past decade. She was a driving force which strengthened the Union and whose leadership has steered Germany and Europe through troublesome times, including the 2008 recession, the Syrian civil war refugee crisis, and other situations where she did not shy away from taking unpopular decisions to defend what she believed was right. However, the consensus and support she received were not enough to avoid not enough to avoid the worst figures on record for her party, and while the post-election brokering has only just begun, the results will surely trigger profound soul-searching by the party elite. In this October edition of CdPRO we analyse the legacy of the first Bundeskanzlerin from the East and what the electoral results mean for Germany and indeed Europe's future.
