When Angela Merkel hosted the G20 summit in Hamburg last July, she was the most experienced western leader in the room. The German chancellor took office in 2005 — when Emmanuel Macron was just a year out of college, and Donald Trump was still a reality TV star and real estate guy.
The only G20 leader who has been in office longer than Ms Merkel is Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the two leaders’ records make an instructive contrast. Under President Putin, Russia has lost friends, was sucked into wars and been hit with economic sanctions. But, in the Merkel era, Germany has grown steadily in prosperity and political influence. On a range of crucial issues — Russia, refugees, the euro — Germany has become Europe’s “indispensable nation”, with decisions taken in the chancellery in Berlin critical to how events unfold.
So the current political crisis in Germany has global implications. If, as now seems distinctly possible, the end of the Merkel era is within sight, Europe will be in a new and dangerous situation.