Friedrich Merz

Scholz’s successor will exceed expectations – but only as the bar for the chancellor-designate has been set so low

Bitter at the old politics, young Germans saw the far-right AfD as a revitalising tonic. How can the left get that taste out of their mouths?

Thanks to the SPD, expectations of the soon-to-be chancellor are now so low he can hardly fail to impress once in office

If Germany’s problems don’t get resolved, the extremists could be leading the charge in the next general election

It took Ernest Bevin and a fear of Soviet expansion to bring Nato to life. Not even the US’s nationalistic retreat from Europe will kill it off