The Chancellor's campaigning for re-election to a fourth term. Voting is on September 24th and for what it is worth, opinion polls say she has a strong lead. But if we have learned anything over the past year, it is that anything can happen in elections. Germany's veteran leader faced her main opponent Martin Schulz in a TV debate last week. He leads the Social Democratic Party which is expected to win second place in parliament.
There has been a close race for third, between the far-right and far-left parties. As Merkel said a month ago, that means there are 'no natural coalitions'.
Will voters forgive Merkel for some of her controversial policies? And how has her long running leadership changed Germany and the EU?
Presenter: Jane Dutton | Guests: Joerg Forbrig - The German Marshall Fund of the United States; Nina Schick - Hanbury Strategy; Bethany Allen Ebrahimian - Foreign Policy magazine
