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One Woman to Rule Them All

THE ECONOMIST: German voters should re-elect Angela Merkel as their chancellor—and Europe’s leader

EVER since the euro crisis broke in late 2009 this newspaper has criticised the world’s most powerful woman. We disagreed with Angela Merkel’s needlessly austere medicine: the continent’s recession has been unnecessarily long and brutal as a result. We wanted the chancellor to shrug off her cautious incrementalism and the mantle of her country’s history—and to lead Europe more forcefully. She is largely to blame for the failure to create a full banking union for the euro zone, the first of many institutional changes it still needs. She has refused to lead public opinion, never spelling out to her voters how much Germany is to blame for the euro mess (nor how much its banks have been rescued by its bail-outs). We also worry that she has not done enough at home: in recent years no country in the European Union has made fewer structural reforms, and her energy policies have landed Germany with high subsidies for renewables and high electricity prices.

And yet we believe Mrs Merkel is the right person to lead her country and thus Europe. That is partly because of what she is: the world’s most politically gifted democrat and a far safer bet than her leftist opponents. It is also partly because of what we believe she could still become—the great leader Germany and Europe so desperately needs.

Stick with Mutti

Politically, few can match Mrs Merkel. As other leaders have soared and dipped (Barack Obama and David Cameron spring to mind) or not taken off at all (poor François Hollande), she has remained both popular and trusted. And do not underestimate her achievement in holding Europe together. Greece has not fallen out of the euro; northern Europeans have paid for bail-outs; Spain and others have made reforms few thought possible; she helped get rid of clowns like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. The euro’s survival so far was not inevitable. » | From the print edition | Saturday, September 14, 2013

Hat Mutti doch recht? »

Economist 'Time-bomb' Cover Sparks French Ire
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: French officials angrily rejected a charge by The Economist on Friday that France was the "time-bomb at the heart of Europe", accusing the magazine of sensationalist journalism.

The Economist's front cover showed seven loaves of "baguette" bread held together by a French tricolour with a lit fuse protruding from the centre.

Its main article raised concerns that President Francois Hollande's economic reforms are not ambitious enough and so could jeopardise the future of the euro currency.

"Unless Mr Hollande shows that he is genuinely committed to changing the path his country has been on for the past 30 years, France will lose the faith of investors—and of Germany. As several euro-zone countries have found, sentiment in the markets can shift quickly," The Economist wrote.

"The crisis could hit as early as next year. Previous European currency upheavals have often started elsewhere only to finish by engulfing France—and this time, too, France rather than Italy or Spain could be where the euro’s fate is decided. Mr Hollande does not have long to defuse the time-bomb at the heart of Europe."

Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg told Europe 1 radio: "Honestly, The Economist has never distinguished itself by its sense of even-handedness." » | Telegraph Staff, and agencies | Friday, November 16, 2012