END OF THE MERKEL ERA: GERMANY AFTER COVID-19

Apart from a deadly epidemic, which claimed more than 100.000 lives in Germany since 2020, the new coronavirus brought about a shakeup of the political system in Europe’s greatest economy. In 2021, general elections ended 16 years of Christian Democracy (CDU) rule under Angela Merkel, replaced by the Social-Democratic Party (SPD) lead by Olaf Scholz. 

COVID-19 did not change international relations fundamentally – it rather deepened already dramatic scenes, setting polities even more apart, enhancing liabilities of the current international framework. We should not underestimate, however, decisive effects that pandemic impinged on domestic scenarios – already seen in Joe Biden’s triumph over Donald Trump in United States.

The shadow of COVID-19 overlapped with political fragmentation in a German liberal democracy already in crisis – reducing Merkel’s profile and bringing the voting share of CDU and SPD combined to the lowest level after Reunification. With traditional parties in positions of institutional fragility, political transition in Germany signalized deeper changes in European politics across a new decade.