Is this the end for Angela Merkel?

Is this the end for Angela Merkel? | Jakob Augstein | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Hamburg is Germany's most English city. The wind blows from the North Sea, its buildings look like London townhouses and moments of extreme joy and despair are usually handled with a stiff upper lip. Sunday's celebrations among the city's social democrats, however, were atypical of its famously reserved citizens. Winning 48% of the vote in a key regional election, the SPD reached an absolute majority, something it hadn't managed in nearly a quarter of a century. In the Berlin headquarters of Angela Merkel's CDU the news was received with pale faces. A loss in Hamburg had appeared inevitable for some time, but the crushing nature of the defeat was a blow nonetheless.

The conclusion is inevitable: Angela Merkel's best days are behind her. The most powerful woman in Europe finds herself facing the beginning of the end."

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